Lavish parties, 'outrageous conduct'... and 'dates' with an ex-governor: How twin daughters of Lebanese immigrants reached the upper echelons of power... and triggered the biggest sex scandal for a generation

By Daniel Bates

PUBLISHED: 17:44 EST, 15 November 2012 | UPDATED: 18:32 EST, 15 November 2012

Staring at Jill Kelley’s $1.3m mansion from the street, it would be hard not to think that this was a person who had made it in life.

The vast 1923 brick house is in one of the most fashionable districts of Tampa, Florida, and is over the bay from one of New York Yankee Derek Jeter's homes.

The lawns are perfectly manicured, it has six bedrooms and four bathrooms for the hundreds of military guests who used to attend parties there.

A closer look, however, and you notice that the paint is peeling on the outside and wooden chairs at all rather too well worn.

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Aspirations: Jill Kelley, left, and her twin sister, Natalie Khawam, are pictured in their high school year book

Humble beginnings: The twins attended Lower Moreland High School in Huntingdon Valley, PA

The owners have been sued for $4.1m of debts and are, as we found out this week, at the centre of the biggest scandal to rock the military in living memory.

If ever there was a perfect metaphor for the life that Kelley has been living, then her house would be it. A lot of front, in other words, and a hollow, brazen ambition on the inside.

Until this week the only view we had to Kelley’s life was that of the outsider, but now we all know what was going on behind closed doors it raise more questions than it answers.

General John Allen, the commander of US troops in Afghanistan, sent her up to 30,000 emails including some which were reportedly of an inappropriate nature.

Rise: Kelley has soared up the ranks to the top of the military social scene in Florida and now considers David Petraeus, pictured kissing her at an awards ceremony at her home in 2011, a close friend

Playing host: Kelley entertains General Petraeus and his wife Holly at her home last year

Rubbing shoulders: Jill Kelley (second right) and her twin sister Natalie (left) are pictured with David Petraeus, his wife Holly and Kelley's husband Scott (centre) at a party at their Tampa home

Through her connections, Kelley grew so close to General David Petraeus that she was invited to his daughter Anne’s wedding.

Even the FBI agent who investigated her claims that Petraeus’ mistress Paula Broadwell had sent her threatening emails was so enraptured that he sent her a picture of himself with no shirt on.

So beloved was the ‘social liason’ to the military that all Kelley had to do was give the guard at MacDill Air Force Base a wave of her perfectly manicured hand and she would be let in to fraternise as she pleased.

But no longer - with her access revoked and the scandal in full public view, many are asking the questions they should have asked from the beginning.

What exactly it is about this former mathlete that powerful men cannot resist?

Bold: Kelley is pictured outside her house on Monday morning after her part in the scandal emerged

Behind closed doors: The family lives in a $1.3 million house in Tampa, but have been sued for $4.1m of debts

Connections: Jill Kelley boasts of her position as honorary consul to South Korea on her license plate

And what is it about her that takes great pleasure in seeing a man in uniform go weak at the knees when she walks into the room?

A look into Kelley’s background reveals that she could not have been more different than how she has ended up.

She and twin sister Natalie Khawam waited until their teens at the earliest before embarking on their transition to a more shameless version of the Kardashians. (Which takes some doing, considering that Kim Kardashian became famous for starring in her very own sex tape.)

Kelley’s parents Marcelle and John Khawam moved to Philadelphia from Lebanon in the 1970s, presumably to give a better life to their children, whom they raised as Catholic.

They opened a Middle Eastern restaurant in Voorhees, New Jersey before moving to Pennsylvania where both girls attended Lower Moreland High School in Huntingdon Valley.

Through the years: Jill is married to cancer surgeon, Scott Kelley, and they have three children

Stepping out: Dr. Scott Kelley is pictured leaving the family home on Thursday, as the scandal rages on

Back to the frenzy: Scott Kelley, a long-time friend of the Petraeus family, arrives home on Thursday

Classmates remembered the girls as ‘The Twins’ because they spent so much time together, never went to any parties and did not appear to have even gone to the prom.

But in a sign of things to come, at 18, Kelley responded to taunts about her big nose: ‘You’ll be in awe of me after I have a nosejob’.

Kelley, now a mother of three, appears to have met her future husband Scott, a cancer surgeon, in Pennsylvania and a decade ago they moved to Tampa, taking in Natalie as a permanent guest in their new home, which they bought in 2004.

It was there that Kelley set about turning herself into the to go-to girl for any party that the military put on.

First she had to look the part - out went the t-shirts, jeans and cheap pearls of her high school days.

Support: Jill Kelley's mother Marcelle Khawam looked relaxed as she arrived at Jill's upscale home

Fears: But Kelley's brother, David Khawam, said he is worried she will never shake the scandal

In came designer dresses, high heels, expensive handbags and a new sleek hairstyle instead of her voluminous youthful look.

In also came the guests at her regular parties - Petraeus, General Allen, and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is a close ally of Mitt Romney.

There are even claims her sister, Natalie, dated the former Florida governor, Charlie Crist.

It is likely senior FBI officials were also invited to sup cocktails on the lawn and meet the mayor and other local dignitaries.

A band would sometimes play amid a Cosmopolitan atmosphere that included high ranking French and Italian military officers.

VIDEO: Jill's frantic calls to 9-1-1:

Another day, another parade: Kelley is never spotted not wearing a designer dress, her neighbours said

Scandal: Kelley watches coverage of the Petraeus affair. In May, she told the FBI about threatening emails she was receiving and they traced them to Paula Broadwell - and uncovered her unfair with Petraeus

So good a host was Kelley, 37, that she became ‘honorary consul’ to South Korea, a title with no responsibilities but official enough for her to put on her number plate.

Such delusions of grandeur were apparent when she phoned police in recent days asking for ‘diplomatic protection’ because she was annoyed at journalists knocking on her door.

Meanwhile we now know that Kelley’s world was falling apart.

She has been sued by Central Bank for $1.9m for failing to keep up with mortgage payments on a home she bought after starting a property company.

Regions Bank sued her and her husband for $1.8m over the mortgage on another home and filed another claim for $453,000.

Bank of America followed suit for $25,000 of unpaid credit card charges.

Twin sister: Natalie Khawam was locked in a bitter custody battle with her husband Grayson Wolfe, right, who she was married to for only one year before their marriage started to crumble

With dad: Natalie's estranged husband lives with their four-year-old son in his Washington D.C. home, pictured

Then came the sex scandal, which makes her financial problems look like a drop in the ocean.

And her sister has had it no easier, even appealing to Petraeus and General Allen to write letters to a judge on her behalf as she fought a doomed battled to win back custody of her four-year-old son

A year ago, the judge had resoundingly denied custody to Natalie, saying he had serious concerns and reservations over her mental stability and her grasp on reality.

He also cited her with 'outrageous conduct', 'bad faith litigation tactics', and 'illogical thinking' before awarding full custody to the father - who had been unable to see his child for more than a year.

The New York Post claimed her estranged husband, Grayson Wolfe, won sole custody of the boy after the judge found out Khawam, a lawyer, repeatedly lied under oath and filed false domestic-violence and child-abuse claims against her husband.

Close friends: Holly Petraeus poses with Jill and Scott Kelley at one of their lavish garden parties

Affair: Kelley tipped off the FBI about threatening emails she received from Paula Broadwell, right, and during their investigation they uncovered her affair with David Petraeus

'Flirty': Kelley allegedly sent 'inappropriate' emails to Gen John Allen, pictured with his wife and daughter

She was also accused of defying court orders to allow her estranged husband access to their son and sent emails to his friends and colleagues telling them he was a 'horrible father and husband'.

But Khawam's troubles don't just end there. She is also currently being sued in Montgomery County for failing to pay the lawyer's fees in her divorce - believed to be in the region of $100,000.

The case has been on the court docket for nearly a-year-and-a-half but took a backward step in April when she filed for bankruptcy.

On the bankruptcy filing, Khawam lists $3.2 million in unpaid debt, plus $53,000 she owes the Internal Revenue Service.

Life is a mess for the sisters, but one cannot help but feel that Kelley is the victim of her own misfortune and her own overreaching.

In the cold light of day, what Kelley really needs right now - and no, another canary yellow dress is not the answer - is a dose of reality and for that she need only look out of her window.

Involved: She reported the emails to FBI agent Frederick Humphries, 'who became obsessed with the case'

Who's who? A diagram explains the connections between the major players in the Petraeus scandal

It seems oddly fitting that Kelley lives in Tampa, Florida, a city so mired in sleaze it is known as the strip club capital of the world.

The Republican party got a flavour of this earlier this year when - for reasons best left to themselves - they decided to hold their National Convention there.

Strippers duly vowed to asks GOP customers to ‘make it rain’ by showering them with cash, whilst one called Lisa Ann dressed up as Sarah Palin to draw attention to herself.

With her friends leaving faster than the money goes out the bank, such a career change might start to look increasingly attractive.

At least she would still be able to go on pleasing men of power and influence - and they would continue to fall at her feet.