Sister of tennis great Andre Agassi faces bankruptcy as she’s slapped with $2.7M suit over ex-husband’s crimes: ‘He screwed me’

The older sister of tennis legend Andre Agassi faces a multi-million-dollar lawsuit, could lose her home and is on the brink of bankruptcy ever since she hitched her wagon to a would-be convicted conman over two decades ago.

Tami Agassi’s life was plunged into chaos in 2017, when her luxury hotel developer husband, Lobsang Dargey, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and concealing material information from federal authorities — leaving her to face the $2.7 million suit related to a busted land deal.

“He painted himself as a very honest, honorable person. Hard working and highly intelligent, of the utmost moral character. That’s what he presented himself as,” Tami exclusively told The Post. “What he came to be was very different. Very cunning, calculated and manipulative.”

Tami met “charming” Dargey at a charity event in Seattle in the early 2000s, admitting that she found her would-be husband’s apparent honesty refreshing.

He claimed he did not know of Andre Agassi’s glittering tennis career, which included eight Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal. But Dargey’s seeming naivety masked his true motives.

“He kept up the act for a while,” she said. “And then he pretended he just discovered it, and acted mad at me that I didn’t tell him. He was very angry.”

“At the time I thought he was a little bit uncomfortable and this was his way of approaching it. He portrayed himself as the immigrant who didn’t know very much,” she added.

To strike up a romance, Dargey, a Tibetan refugee and former Buddhist monk, made “persistent, non-stop cold calls” to Tami’s Seattle office.

The pair were engaged within a year and tied the knot shortly after Dargey popped the question. They went on to welcome a daughter, followed by twins.

“He ingratiated himself with me but also more importantly with my dad, who was a very strong figure in my life,” Tami said of her late father Emmanuel Agassi, who died in 2021. “My dad loved him dearly, respected him immensely.”

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Tami, a breast cancer survivor , added, “Put it this way, if cancer came back, this is the guy I would want raising my kids. He seemed like he had the character morals that I was looking for in a person.”

After earning their trust, Dargey was given funds by the Agassi family to finance a few of his first real estate projects, Tami claimed in court docs stemming from a civil lawsuit she later filed against her ex in 2021 and obtained by The Post.

Dargey’s business was off to a golden start thanks to his wife’s financial stability and the popularity of her last name, she claims.

Following hot on the heels of the success of his first two projects, Dargey refinanced a property jointly owned with Agassi’s parents and diverted money into his third business venture, according to Tami’s 2021 lawsuit.

When her money ran dry, he raised funds for his first large-scale projects by targeting her social circle, she also claimed in her suit.

Tami’s civil lawsuit against Dargey was dismissed without prejudice on Feb. 22, 2022, meaning she could refile it later — and she tells The Post that’s what she plans to do.

In 2015, Dargey’s business empire collapsed.

That year, federal agents raided his offices, seized the couple’s assets and froze their business ventures.

Dargey was accused of defrauding key international investors by cheating them out of millions of dollars through the empty promise of a green card via the US 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 concealing information after he scammed over 280 investors from China out of $24.2 million, the Department of Justice said.

“This defendant stole not just money but something that he knew from personal experience was much more valuable — the right to come to the United States and live the American dream,” US Attorney Annette L. Hayes said in a statement following Dargey’s sentencing in 2017.

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According to Tami, her parents, Emmanuel and Elizabeth Agassi, received one distribution in 18 years for their investment in Dargey’s business.

“That’s what he did. He built your trust, that’s how he was able to get money out of you to invest. But then he kept quiet on what was actually being done with the money,” Tami said.

Tami says her superstar brother Andre could smell Dargey’s intentions from the beginning of their relationship.

“I learned after [everything that happened], Andre knew exactly who this person was the moment he met him. But didn’t want to say it out loud. The rest of my family wasn’t noticing that,” she shared.

“Andre didn’t have a lot of interactions [with Dargey] because I live in Seattle and Andre lives in Las Vegas,” she said. “I think that Lobsang was very disappointed that he wasn’t able to create the type of relationship he would’ve loved to have with somebody like Andre. And that upset him.”

The tennis star declined to comment to The Post.

After Dargey’s release from prison in Jan. 2020, Tami filed for divorce — but only because he allegedly told her it would protect her and their children financially.

“He gave the divorce based on trust that we will rebuild for the family and told me this is what I had to do,” she said, adding that he was facing more than $24 million court-ordered restitution obligation.

“This isn’t money that ever hit my bank account. I did not live large. He screwed me.”

Tami was dealt fresh hell last year after hotel giant IHG slapped her — and her scandal-scarred ex-husband — with a $2.7 million lawsuit in connection with a personal loan guarantee for a luxury hotel that was due to be built in a fancy downtown Seattle high-rise.

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The high-rise, initially named the Potala Tower, was not built due to Dargey’s legal troubles. After fighting to block the government’s bid to fire sale the project, the tower project was ultimately taken on by other developers, however, a different hotel brand was chosen.

“He brought home papers for me to sign, as always, and I signed them while my life was in chaos with newborns not knowing he was committing federal crimes at the time,” she said, referring to the personal guarantee form that she had signed under Dargey’s instruction prior to his conviction.

“My crime in this whole IHG lawsuit is that I didn’t lawyer up against my husband when I signed every document he gave me.”

IHG declined to comment.

“Mr. Dargey’s promises of future financial support are nothing more than words,” Brian Muchinsky of Illuminate Law Group in Bellevue, and civil attorney for Tami, told The Post. “His past and present behavior demonstrate obstruction to not only requests for support, but basic information.”

Tami revealed that she faces bankruptcy if IHG’s lawsuit prevails.

“I’ve been living like this for years. I’m resigned to the fact that I’m likely going to lose my house. I owe over $3 million in back taxes for unrealized gains,” she said.

Asked if her famous brother could foot the bill, Tami says that option is a no-go.

“I’ve been a burden enough to [Andre]. I shouldn’t continue being a burden. It’s not OK. I have to fight for myself,” she said.

The Post has reached out to Dargey’s legal reps for comment.

Soon after Tami’s divorce from Dargey was finalized in July 2020, she discovered that he was once again a married man.

“Not only did he not invite the children to the wedding, he didn’t tell his children he was married,” she said of her ex. “Then he introduced them to a stranger as [a] secret second mom.”

“I have to work really hard to let my kids know this is not normal,” she added. “This is not what a dad is. I have to make sure they know that.”

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