It appears Rhonda Breard will face criminal charges. In addition, KING 5 News has learned a civil lawsuit will soon be filed against her.
Breard's attorney confirms to KING 5 that he is expecting criminal charges to be filed against her and that she is cooperating with the FBI.
Meantime she is apparently quite cash-poor these days and has even been looking to pawn her jewelry for quick cash.
As her investment empire crumbled around her, Breard showed up at Elegante Jewelry & Loan in Bellevue looking to pawn about 100 pieces of designer jewelry. Names like David Yurman, John Hardy and Pandora.
"There were probably, if we were using retail values, there would have been tens of thousands of dollars, would be my guesstimate," says co-owner Doug Davis.
When the the shop owners realized it was Breard who was trying to pawn the jewels, they refused her business and warned other shops in the area.
It's quite an indignity to a woman who once managed millions of dollars for investors across Western Washington.
State financial officials now believe she is responsible for falsifying paperwork that led to as many as 20 investors losing up to $8 million. Her former clients allege she doctored documents and kept the money she was supposed to be investing.
Breard's financial troubles include a Lake Washington home where she is nearly a million dollars underwater. She also owns two other homes along with a parade of toys and luxury vehicles. Exactly what she was planning to do with all that jewelry money remains unclear -- pay the people she owes, pay her new attorney or keep it for herself.
