Credit: Shutterstock/ Michael Mattes
Mauricio Umansky may be seeing success in the ballroom with his Dancing With the Stars partner and rumored flame Emma Slater. But off-screen, he’s entangled in a legal drama.
Amid his separation from estranged wife Kyle Richards, 54, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, 53, who also appears on Netflix’s Buying Beverly Hills, has found himself getting reprimanded by a judge as he attempts to evade punishment over the sale of a $32 million mansion, which previously belonged to the son of a vicious African dictator.
As RHOBH fans may recall, Mauricio was sued for $35 million in 2019 over the sale of the home after it was alleged that he and his business partner, Mauricio Oberfeld, ignored offers from potential sellers, including a $40 million bid, in an effort to obtain the property for themselves — and later sold it for a massive $37 million profit.
Prior to the sale, Mauricio had been contracted by the federal government to sell the seized home of Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, who is known as the “torturer-in-chief,” after he was accused of stealing government money.
After being prosecuted, Teodoro agreed to sell the home and use $10 million of the profit to pay a Justice Department fine and donate the remaining funds to charitable organizations in his home country.
After Mauricio came on as a realtor and allegedly failed to present all offers, Radar Online revealed on October 4 that the reality star was playing with fire as Teodoro’s father, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, 81, “allegedly eats the testicles of his enemies after skinning them alive.”
The outlet went on to say that he’s ruled since 1979 and established a “much-feared reputation for vanishing his opponents, and noted a report from the UK’s Mirror, which said the dictator believes eating the testicles of his enemies will enhance his sexual prowess as he supposedly eats his victims’ brains.
According to the report, private text messages that realtor Aitan Segal sent to the prospective mansion buyer Sam Hakim in 2017, after Mauricio and his partner sold the home for profit, prove their alleged scam.
“We could have flipped it for 20 more without even a facelift,” Aitan told Sam in a 2017 text. “If the Seller thought that Mauricio was truly helping them as their agent, I do not find that to be a wise choice. The Seller (is) not kosher and Mo (Mauricio) could be playing with fire. Top 10 most dangerous people in the world.”
Although Mauricio has attempted to have the case thrown out, stating that the statute of limitation to file the claim expired, the plaintiffs insist their text messages prove his guilt.
Meanwhile, another report, from Radar Online on October 20, shared that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark H. Epstein was not happy with Mauricio at a recent court hearing after he was allegedly caught making dishonest claims.
Amid the hearing, Mauricio told the judge that his text messages disappeared when he got a new phone as Sam said their text chats didn’t exist. Then, the co-plaintiff turned over the missing messages.
In response, the judge said there would be hell to pay if they continued the “gamesmanship.”
“Given the fact that each party has now made representations to the court that the court has found to be misleading and potentially deliberately so, the parties might want to think a long time before bringing more discovery motions,” the judge stated. “Rather, they ought to just obey the statutes regarding discovery and turn over the information as the law requires. The rule they ought to follow is that if they are thinking about whether they need to turn it over, they do. The court is tired of what appears to be gamesmanship by both sides.”
In addition to wanting the suit thrown out, Mauricio is also requesting that Sam be hit with a $1.2 million fine for wasting his time.
Meanwhile, as the judge held off on making any moves, Mauricio was told to turn over the forensic report that verifies the alleged disappearance of his texts.
“Umansky obviously cannot produce that which is no longer in his possession, custody, or control,” the judge added.
Dancing With the Stars season 32 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on ABC and Disney+.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 13 airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
