He sued for barrels of emeralds. 5 years ago he was sentenced for mortgage fraud
A Pierce County lender who went to prison five years ago for mortgage fraud filed a lawsuit recently to regain control of four barrels of gemstones in an out-of-state vault, according to court records.
Emiel Kandi’s lawsuit argued that two former friends fraudulently took control of White Oak Partners II LLC years ago and that he’s the true owner of the company.
“These gemstones are the only asset that the company currently owns,” the lawsuit says.
Kandi did not return a News Tribune message seeking comment this week.
A default judgment in his favor was signed Monday by Pierce County Superior Court Commissioner Clarence Henderson Jr.
Court records show the former friends were served and did not respond to the lawsuit, which was filed Sept. 5. As such, the order found that Kandi is the owner of the company and its emeralds.
One of those former friends was served at the state prison in Monroe, where he’s serving time in connection to a 2014 Renton-area homicide.
According to Kandi’s lawsuit:
White Oak Partners II was incorporated in 2008 as a subsidiary of Strategic Worldwide Investments and in 2010 received the barrels of emeralds.
Kandi’s former friends “illegally changed the company’s records with the Washington Secretary of State” to show themselves as owners or managers, the lawsuit said.
The friends changed the state records to make themselves managers in early 2011, then had the emeralds sent from Tacoma to a vault in Florida, allegedly without Kandi’s permission.
Kandi was hospitalized around that time and was unaware of his friends’ “subterfuge and was not watching for betrayal from people he trusted,” the lawsuit says.
Kandi hasn’t had contact with the friends since 2015, and in 2016 he “transferred all of the membership shares of, and assets owned by, the company into his own name as an individual person,” the lawsuit said.
Strategic Worldwide Investments allegedly didn’t have any ownership of or interest in the company after that.
Kandi needed the court action to access the gemstones because the vault account was set up with Kandi’s friends listed as those in charge.
“As such, the vault is seeking clarity as to what the correct ownership of the company really is and whom they should be dealing with which has prompted this action for declaratory relief,” the lawsuit says.
Kandi was sentenced to five years in prison in 2014 and was ordered to pay more than $831,000 to the government in restitution. Kandi pleaded guilty to lying on federal loan applications and conspiring to submit fraudulent mortgage applications, according to News Tribune archives.
Prosecutors at the time said he lied about information such as the employment history and income of borrowers on at least 19 home mortgage loan applications to get the borrowers federally insured loans. Some of those properties were in Gig Harbor and Puyallup.
The prosecutors accused Kandi of charging application fees as high as $35,000, which they said some borrowers didn’t know about.
“Mr. Kandi has many good qualities,” U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton said at sentencing. “But the compelling theme of his life to this point was he was aggressive, he was pushing the envelope, he was a risk taker. Without humility, without empathy, those qualities are the ruination of someone.”
Leighton signed a new order in the case Wednesday, regarding allegations about Kandi’s self-employment and disclosure of his assets.
Court records show probation officers filed a petition to issue a summons in U.S. District Court, accusing Kandi of:
▪ “Being self-employed without permission on or before Sept. 11, 2019 in violation of a special condition.”
▪ “Failing to disclose all assets as required on or before September 11, 2019, in violation of a special condition.”
▪ “Failing to submit a truthful and complete monthly report on or before September 16, 2019, in violation of a standard condition.”
Leighton found probable cause and ordered the issuance of the summons.
