Cowboys hall of famer Smith accused of cheating Native American investor in solar deal: reports

Emmitt Smith, a three-time Super Bowl champion running back with the Dallas Cowboys, and his commercial real estate firm have been accused of cheating a Native American investor out of $2.5 million as part of an alleged solar project scheme, according to a lawsuit filed in Delaware, the New York Times reported Wednesday. 

Filed Monday in Chancery Court, the lawsuit claims Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, his business partner, David Mosley, and their commercial real estate company, 4 13 Solutions Inc., convinced Kituwah LLC to invest $2.5 million to fund a Texas solar project named Project Exodus, according to the Times report.

“Kituwah, the tribally owned investment and economic development arm of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, is now seeking the return of the $2.5 million loan ‘with appropriate interest,’” according to the report. Multiple news outlets also reported the lawsuit’s claims.

Kituwah clams it has not recovered any money from the $2.5 million loan, according to the Times report. The Times also reported that Smith’s company at the center of the dispute, 4 13 Solutions, could not be reached for comment.

The $2.5 million was directed to other business interests, according to the Times report.

According to the complaint, “Smith and Mosley used the loan to repay Darrel Wilson and his company, Wilson Holdings of North America, ‘with whom they had partnered on other ventures.’”

The investor group Kituwah alleges the arrangement functioned ‘like a Ponzi scheme,’ claiming the funds were secretly earmarked to ‘improperly pay’ Wilson Holdings, the Times reported.

“Allegedly, the payment to Wilson Holdings was compensation for prior unsuccessful loans and investments that it made with 4 13 Solutions,” the lawsuit reads. 

Kituwah alleges that in early 2023, Smith and Mosley provided assurances that the investment would be repaid in a matter of months once the project got off the ground.

According to the complaint, the loan remained unpaid by the Feb. 1, 2024, deadline, and the promised progress on the project never materialized. 4 13 Solutions did not respond to multiple notices that the loan was overdue and “simply ignored Kituwah’s repayment demands,” according to the Times report.

^{Main photo from: Anthony Quintano from Honolulu, HI, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons}