Ex-NFL Great Emmitt Smith Accused of Ponzi-Like ‘Scheme’ Cheating Investor Out of $2.5 Million

Emmitt Smith, a retired three-time Super Bowl champ who used to play with the Dallas Cowboys, has been accused of running a Ponzi-like scheme and cheating an investor out of more than $2 million.

In a complaint filed Monday, August 31, in the Delaware Court of Chancery, Kituwah Energy Project (a Native American economic developmental agency) accused Smith and business partner David Mosley — along with Darrel Wilson and his company Wilson Holdings — of exploiting them out of $2.5 million.

According to the complaint, the NFL legend and his partners allegedly used “false projections and data” and made “promises that they had no intention of fulfilling” in order to persuade Kituwah to “form a joint venture with their company, 4 13 Solutions” and loan them the money.

The funds were said to be used to “acquire an interest in a renewable energy project in Texas.”

The solar farm project they were allegedly working on “would be up and running by the end of 2024 and was projected to generate millions in income,” the docs stated. However, that was not the case.

“Kituwah’s loan came due on February 1, 2024,” the complaint claimed. “It was not repaid.”

Kituwah described the situation “essentially, like a Ponzi scheme,” with money from the $2.5 million loan used to allegedly pay previous investors.

During scheduled weekly calls between the parties — on “the few occasions when 4 13 Solutions did show up,” per the complaint — Mosley or Smith would allegedly “offer nothing but more perfunctory stories to justify why Project Exodus had been stalled and/or why the Note could not be repaid.”

Kituwah is seeking damages of at least $2.5 million plus interest, costs and expenses, as well as attorneys’ fees, costs and expenses incurred in connection with investigating what happened to the loan money.

While it seems the former running back has not publicly addressed the legal complaint, he recently posted an Instagram Reel featuring moments from vacation.

“Wrapped up my vacation in Greece with final stops in Mykonos and Santorini,” he captioned the post, adding that it was “a beautiful cap to my European getaway.”