The sister of tennis legend Andre Agassi is facing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, the risk of losing her home and the cusp of bankruptcy after she began dating a convicted fraudster more than two decades ago.
Tammy Agassi's life was thrown into upheaval in 2017 when her husband, luxury hotel developer Lobsang Darjee, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and withholding material information from federal authorities and faced a $2.7 million lawsuit related to a failed land deal.
“He portrayed himself as a very honest and honorable person — hard-working, highly intelligent, with the highest moral standards. That was how he presented himself,” Tami told The Washington Post exclusively. “The reality was completely different. He was very cunning, calculating and manipulative.”
Tami met the “charming” Dargie at a charity event in Seattle in the early 2000s, and admitted she found her future husband's honesty refreshing.
Dargie claimed he was unaware of Andre Agassi's illustrious tennis career, which included eight Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal, but his seeming ignorance concealed his true motives.
“He carried on acting out for a while,” she said, “and then pretended he'd just found out and was upset that I hadn't told him. He was very upset.”
“I think he was a little uncomfortable at the time and this was his way of doing things. He was portraying himself as an immigrant who didn't know much,” she added.
In an effort to build a romantic relationship, Dargie, a Tibetan refugee and former Buddhist monk, made “persistent, nonstop calls” to Tami's Seattle office.
The two were engaged within a year and married just three months after Dargie proposed. They soon had a daughter, followed by twins.
“He was a favorite of mine, but more importantly, he was a favorite of my father, who was a very important figure in my life,” Tami said of her father, Emmanuel Agassi, who passed away in 2021. “He loved him very much and respected him very much.”
Tami, a breast cancer survivor, added: “I've got to say, if my cancer comes back, I want this man to raise my children with me. He seemed to have the kind of character and moral values I look for in someone.”
After gaining the Agassis' trust, Dargie received funding from them to fund some of her first real estate projects, Tami alleged in court documents obtained by The Washington Post and stemming from a 2021 civil lawsuit she filed against her ex-husband.
Dargie claims his business got off to a good start thanks to his wife's financial security and the popularity of her surname.
Following the success of his first two projects, Darzy refinanced a property he co-owned with Agassi's parents and diverted the funds to a third business, according to Tami's 2021 lawsuit.
When her funds ran out, he targeted her social circle to raise funds for his first big project, she alleged in the lawsuit.
Tami's civil lawsuit against Dargie was dismissed on February 22, 2022, meaning she can refile it at a later date, which she told The Washington Post she intends to do.
In 2015, Dargie's business empire collapsed.
That year, federal agents raided his offices, seized the couple's assets and froze their businesses.
Darzy is accused of defrauding major international investors out of millions of dollars with empty promises of green cards through the U.S. government's EB-5 program.
In 2017, the then-43-year-old was sent to federal prison on two federal felony counts of wire fraud and concealment of information for defrauding more than 280 Chinese investors out of $24.2 million, according to the Department of Justice.
After taking a plea deal, he admitted to misappropriating millions of dollars from investors, including the Agassi family, according to court documents obtained by The Washington Post.
“The defendants stole not only money but also something they knew from their personal experiences to be even more valuable: the right to come to the United States and live the American Dream,” said U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. It said in a statement After Dargie was sentenced in 2017.
Tami said her parents, Emmanuel and Elizabeth Agassi, received only one dividend from their investment in Dargie's business over 18 years.
“That's what he did. He built your trust so he could extract money from you to invest, but then remain silent about how the money was actually spent,” Tami said.
Tami said her superstar brother Andre was aware of Dargie's intentions from the beginning of their relationship.
“I [everything that happened]”Andre knew exactly who this was the moment he met him, but he didn't want to say it out loud. The rest of my family was unaware,” she said.
“Andre didn't have much contact. [with Dargey] “I live in Seattle and Andre lives in Las Vegas,” she says. “I think Lobsang was very disappointed that he didn't have the kind of relationship he wanted with someone like Andre, and that upsets him.”
The tennis star declined to comment when contacted by The Washington Post.
After Dargie was released from prison in January 2020, Tami filed for divorce, but allegedly only because Dargie told her he was getting a divorce to protect her and her children financially.
“My husband filed for divorce based on the trust that we could rebuild our family and told me this is what I had to do,” she said, adding that her husband faces court-ordered damages of more than $24 million.
“This is not money that went into my bank account. I don't have any luxury. But I didn't sign it because I didn't understand it. He tricked me.”
Last year, Tami and her scandal-ridden ex-husband found themselves in a new predicament when hotel giant IHG sued her for $2.7 million in connection with guarantees for a personal loan for a luxury hotel that was planned to be built in a luxury high-rise building in Seattle.
Originally named the Potala Tower, the skyscraper was never built due to Darji's legal troubles. After fighting to block the government from selling the project, the tower project was eventually taken over by another developer, but with a different hotel brand.
“He brought the paperwork home for me to sign, as he always did, and I signed it at a time when my life was in turmoil with caring for a newborn, unaware that he was committing a federal crime,” she said of the personal bond she signed at Dargie's direction after his conviction.
“My crime in this IHG lawsuit is that I did not retain an attorney for my husband when I signed all the documents he gave me.”
IHG declined to comment.
“Dargie's promises of future financial assistance are merely words,” Brian Muchinski of the Bellevue law firm Illuminate, Tami's civil attorney, told The Washington Post. “His past and current actions demonstrate that he is obstructing not only requests for assistance but also basic information.”
Tami revealed that IHG would face bankruptcy if its lawsuit were successful.
“I've been living like this for years and I'm prepared to lose my home. I owe over $3 million in taxes on unrealized gains,” she said.
When asked if her famous brother could foot the bill, Tami said that wasn't an option.
“I have become a burden [Andre]”I shouldn't continue to be a burden. That's not good. I have to fight for myself,” she said.
The Post has reached out to Dargie's legal counsel for comment.
Shortly after Tami and Dargie's divorce was finalized in July 2020, she learned he was married again.
“Not only did he not invite his children to the wedding, he didn't even tell them he was getting married,” she said of her ex-husband, “and introduced them to strangers.” [a] “Secret Second Mom”
“I have to work really hard to make sure my kids understand that this is not normal,” she added. “This is not how a father should be, and I have to make sure they understand that.”
