Three Words That Describe Petraeus/Allen Gal Pal Jill Kelley's Sister: 'Unstable,' Broke... and Lawyer

What does Jill Kelley's sister have to do with Generals Petraeus and Allen? Apparently a whole lot...

Yeah yeah yeah, we know, we’re not supposed to be making a federal case out of an affair. But this one’s just so juicy that we couldn’t resist.

On the one side, we’ve got national security analyst, author, and side piece Paula Broadwell sending harassing emails to social liaison and “honorary consul general” Jill Kelley, telling the party planner to butt out of her relationship with former CIA Director David Petraeus. On the other side, we’ve got Jill Kelley exchanging hundreds of “flirtatious” emails with General John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

And stuck in the middle of this gigantic hot mess (aka the Petraeus Pentagon) is Jill Kelley’s twin sister, Natalie Khawam, who just so happens to be a lawyer — a lawyer who’s been characterized by a judge as “psychologically unstable.”

How can this possibly get any better? It’s like we’re watching a new Real Housewives series play out in real life. Attractive women (and twins!), sex, scandal… the only thing that’s missing is money.

Well, we know how our readers love money, so we’ve got the dirt on Ms. Khawam’s cash (or lack thereof)….

Natalie Khawam, who is currently unemployed, is a 2005 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, and specialized in whistleblowing and qui tam litigation while she was a practicing lawyer. Perhaps her twin sister took this as some sort of a cue and decided to start her own whistleblowing practice?

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We may never know, so let’s get back to the more important details about Khawam. Apparently she’s seen a lot of action in the courts. Her greatest hits include a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband and a multi-million dollar bankruptcy filing.

First, let’s delve into Khawam’s own connections to Petraeus and Allen: they both apparently submitted letters to the court on her behalf in relation to her child custody litigation. According to the Tampa Bay Times, it was then that a judge referred to her as “psychologically unstable”:

[In a separate legal battle, Khawam’s former employer] unearthed a searing, 19-page child custody order from a Washington, D.C., superior court judge calling her out in 2011 for a lengthy “history of abusing the litigation process” and a “willingness to say anything, even under oath, to advance her own personal interests.”

And here’s some additional commentary on the judge’s order from the New York Post:

The judge blasted Khawam for giving false evidence, and noted that a court-ordered shrink had found her domestic-violence allegations to be “part of an ever-expanding set of sensational accusations . . . that are so numerous, so extraordinary and [so] distorted that they defy any common-sense view of reality.”

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Needless to say, Khawam’s ex-husband won sole custody of their child in November 2011, but she’s desperately trying to get that ruling overturned. It must be really nice to have two four-star generals defending your honor (while at the same time sullying that of your twin sister). You can see their letters here.

Next, we’ll tackle what went down with Khawam’s broke ass. In April of this year, Jill Kelley’s twin sister opted to go the Chapter 7 liquidation route, with more than $3.6 million in liabilities according to her voluntary petition. It looks like $288,298 of that amount is due to her student loans. Alas, as we know all too well, she probably won’t be able to get those discharged in bankruptcy without a showing of undue hardship. Khawam also owes $800,000 to her twin sister, for reasons unknown. Maybe this “personal loan” is allowing her to afford her daily expenses, because she’s been camping out at Jill Kelley’s house for a while now.

Khawam’s bankruptcy filing does note, however, that she’s trying to start her own law firm, and anticipates “a potential salary of $40,000 to $50,000 in 2012.” What a shame, because in 2011, she took home $290,000, and in 2010, just a bit less, at $270,822. According to the petition, in 2012, Khawam earned one whole dollar. Yikes! It doesn’t exactly seem like that solo practice is working out for her.

We honestly can’t wait for more of this story to unfold, because the drama is just so superb, and we don’t even have to set aside space on our DVR to watch it. Stay tuned, folks — we have a feeling there’ll be more to come.

(If you’re interested, you can see Khawam’s voluntary petition in full on the next page.)