A new lawsuit against Langley property developer Mark Chandler’s companies has been launched by a luxury car exporter.
Clark Cai is suing Chandler, David Lutton, a vice-president of the Newmark Group, and five associated Newmark Group companies more than a $300,000 loan issued in 2017.
Cai’s statement of claim, filed on June 7, says that Cai first met Lutton, an Abbotsford businessman, in 2016.
“The plaintiff [Cai] asked Mr. Lutton to help purchase luxury vehicles so that he can export the vehicles overseas,” said Cai’s statement of claim.
Cai says he grew to trust Lutton, who was always willing to offer help.
Then in around March 2017, Lutton asked Cai to borrow money from Cai’s father for a short-term loan.
The $300,000 was intended as a “short-term bridge loan” for ongoing development projects owned and managed by the Newmark Group, according to the claim.
“Mr. Lutton promised the plaintiff that he and Newmark Group would pay a bonus of $50,000 as interest for a loan of $300,000, and that he and Newmark Group would pay the loan back within 37 days after the Newmark Group closed the sales of the lands under its development,” the document cited.
In addition, Lutton allegedly promised there would be future opportunities for lucrative development project investments.
The loan was issued on April 7, 2017.
It was not paid back on time, with Lutton and Chandler allegedly offering another $25,000 bonus for an extension on the loan’s repayment, said Cai’s claim.
The loan was never paid back and the court documents state that Lutton and Chandler “cited all sorts of excuses and reasons for not paying back the loan.”
Cai is seeking the amount of the loan, the promised bonuses, and damages.
None of the allegations in the lawsuit have been proven in court. A response to Cai’s claims has not yet been filed.
At the time the loan was made, the Newmark Group’s Murrayville House condo project was already more than a year behind schedule. Later in 2017, the project would be put into the hands of a court-appointed receiver, with the builder owing at least $62 million to various creditors.
The condos were finally finished in 2018 and put up for sale, with all pre-sales wiped out by the courts.
Chandler is facing extradition to the United States on an unrelated charge of fraud stemming from a failed development project in California. He has already appealed the extradition order and been denied by the B.C. Court of Appeal. Chandler is now appealing his case to the Supreme Court of Canada.
