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Reports: Former partners make shock allegations against former All Black
Former All Black centre Regan King has been accused of tricking former partners out of thousands of dollars and using the money for gambling.
Perth women Diana Stalteri and Cheryl Wenninger told BBC Wales that they had loaned the one-test All Black “thousands” after he asked for money, and he failed to repay his debts.
38-year-old King refused to comment and BBC Wales said there was no suggestion he had acted illegally.
It said it had been shown messages and emails from King to several former partners which appear to show him admitting he owes them thousands of Australian dollars, which he promised to pay back.
Stalteri said she met King online in late 2017 and they had been dating for several months before King started asking to borrow money.
She reportedly loaned him part of the A$10,000 he asked for, given that she could see his playing contract and would be repaid at the end of the season.
“It was an immediate family member [of King’s] that rang me with information about the money – that he had a gambling addiction, and the amount of money he owed people, particularly in New Zealand,” Stalteri told BBC Wales.
“I just knew you wouldn’t get a call like that from an immediate family member without it being somewhat true.”
Stalteri said she had spoken to five other women who claimed to have had similar experiences.
Wenninger told BBC Wales of her similar experience, and said that King told her some of the money she loaned him was for his children while his account was frozen during divorce proceedings.
“When I finally found out the truth, I contacted Regan… he told me he had a mental illness and he has been unwell for such a long time,” she told BBC Wales.
“There are no divorce proceedings, no bank accounts, no assets – and that was the premise for him to obtain money from me.”
In total, BBC Wales spoke to five women and two men who all claimed to have loaned King without being repaid.
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King began his career with Waikato in 2001, making his lone test appearance in 2002 before basing himself overseas from 2004, with stints in France and Wales.
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