A former Langley developer currently awaiting trial in the United States is facing another lawsuit over a local condo development.
Three local business people are suing Mark Chandler and a company he controlled, claiming he used loans intended for the condo construction for upgrading his own 8,000-square-foot home in South Langley.
Donald Killeen, Dave Jarvis, and Lucia Cardarelli all claim that they loaned Chandler money during the troubled construction of the Murrayville House building.
According to a statement of claim filed with the courts in January, back in 2015 Killeen loaned $85,000 to the numbered company that owned the Murrayville House site. Jarvis loaned $35,000, and Cardelli loaned $155,000.
All the loans were structured to pay back at a 10-per-cent interest rate, and upon completion of the development each of the three were supposed to receive one of the units in the complex.
Previous lawsuits and court filings have shown that a number of people made similar loans and/or purchase agreements during the protracted development of the condo complex.
According to the Bowra Group, which was the court-appointed trustee for the condo project, some units were sold multiple times.
The three local creditors are asking for their money back, with interest, as well as a certificate of pending litigation and a constructive trust over a piece of property connected to Chandler – a house in the 300-block of 198th Street in the High Point Equestrian Estates development.
At the time of the loans, the South Langley house was owned by a numbered company, one which, according to other court documents filed in separate lawsuits against Chandler and his companies, has a sole director, Mark Chandler’s wife Natalie.
The Killeen lawsuit claims money from the trio’s loans was not used to work on completing the Murrayville House condos, but instead was funnelled towards the house on 198th Street, where Chandler allegedly lived.
BC Assessment currently lists the value of the home at $3.1 million. It’s unknown who currently owns the house. According to BC Assessment, it has not changed hands in the last three years.
None of the claims in the lawsuits have been tested in court.
The Chandlers also owned homes in the Okanagan and in Surrey. The Okanagan home has been the target of foreclosure proceedings.
Murrayville House was taken over by a court appointed receiver and sold off.
Mark Chandler is currently in jail in California awaiting trial this spring on fraud charges related to a failed land development deal in Los Angeles almost a decade ago.
READ MORE: Extradition latest chapter in long legal saga for Langley developer
He spent the last several years fighting extradition, until the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear his appeal late last year. He was extradited last fall.
RCMP announced Murrayville House was under investigation, but no charges have been laid.