Complaint Review: Tina Clausen

First I bought a $23,000 engagement ring for Tina in November 2009, which she kept in her bank safety box (I didnt have one at the time), but was never given to her since we never ended up getting engaged. She later flatly denied the existence of any such ring. But what is worse is that she had also talked me into buying another $45,000 diamond ring prior to our breakup as an "investment for our future" which she also managed to rip off from me in a more devious manner, as described below.

This ploy involved 2 good friends of hers doing business as jewelers at 1149 Bethel Street Ste 315
in Honolulu at the time (as Honolulu Jewelry and later as Royal Pacific Jeweler - they are no longer in business anywhere). They offered us a "great deal" on an Internally Flawless Fancy Yellow Vivid diamond a little over 2 carats in size for around $40,000. They also designed a ring for it, for which I paid a total of $45,000 when it was finished in January 2010. Tina conveniently held on to all the paperwork given to her by her good friends, so I have little proof of the purchase, which was made in cash installments as they requested (drawn from my bank account in December 2009 - January 2010).

Then in June 2010 as our relationship was falling apart she begged me in tears to let her borrow the yellow diamond ring just for a 4-day trip to Las Vegas with some old friends who were supposedly celebrating turning 40 years old. Despite my reluctance I finally let her borrow it after making her promise to return it as soon as she came back. She did return it, but with an almost worthless Cubic Zirconia stone in place of the $40,000 diamond, which I discovered a while later when I had the ring appraised.

The total value of the ring came to $2,700 since it had 2 small side diamonds still in place. There was some evidence that the main stone had been replaced by looking at the prongs holding it, according to the appraiser at Robert Palma Designs LLC in Honolulu (done on 9/1/10 - copy attached to this report).

To top it all off she then filed a TRO against me in September 2010 after receiving numerous irate text
messages from me, which she never even once responded to. The court documents from the TRO hearing on 9/27/10 (Family Court First Circuit FC-DA No. 10-1-1288) reveal that she denied any knowledge of any rings at all, even after my attorney clearly told her she was under oath. Interestingly, when my attorney first asked So he text you some messages asking you to please return the rings and please sign the title to the car back, is that correct? she said, Yes. Then he asked And in no way did he threaten you, is that correct? and she responded No.