Kituwah Sues Emmitt Smith for $2.5 Million Solar Farm Fraud

Q: What specific milestones did the Texas solar project fail to meet before the $2.5 million tribal investment allegedly vanished?

The project allegedly failed to hit the core financing, ownership and operating milestones that were used to justify Kituwah’s $2.5 million loan. According to the complaint and related reporting, the money was supposed to help Jabez 4 10 acquire an ownership interest in Project Exodus from Genesis Consolidated Industries, including rights tied to the land-purchase agreement. Kituwah says those interests were never transferred to the joint venture. The project also never secured the promised permanent financing, including the Department of Energy-backed funding that Smith and his partners allegedly cited as the path to repayment. That mattered because a side agreement said Wilson Holdings was only to be paid after permanent financing was obtained, yet Kituwah claims its money was sent there anyway. Operationally, the developers had projected the solar farm would enter service by Dec. 31, 2024, be “up and running” by year-end, and generate about $13.8 million in first-year net income. Kituwah says none of that happened: no long-term financing closed, the project showed no meaningful progress toward completion, and the solar farm was not completed by the end of 2024. The repayment milestone also failed. The loan was issued in September 2023, matured on Feb. 1, 2024, and, according to the suit, remained unpaid despite repeated demands.

3 articles · Updated · Courthouse News Service · Sep 2

Delaware chancery court received a suit Monday from Kituwah LLC, which says Emmitt Smith, David Mosley and their partners defrauded it in a Texas solar farm venture called Project Exodus.
Kituwah says it lent $2.5 million in September 2023 after 4 13 Solutions promised shared control, a Department of Energy loan and millions in income by the end of 2024.
Instead, the complaint says Kituwah was shut out of the joint venture Jabez 4 10, never got visibility into its finances, and saw no evidence of meaningful progress on the solar farm.
The suit alleges the money was diverted to a minority owner to cover an earlier obligation "essentially, like a Ponzi scheme," while Smith and Mosley delayed repayment with shifting excuses before cutting off contact.
Kituwah, an Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians business group, is seeking at least $2.5 million in damages plus interest; representatives for 4 13 Solutions could not be reached for comment.