A company owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has sued Dallas Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith, accusing his commercial energy firm of diverting a $2.5 million loan meant to fund a Texas solar farm and instead using the money to pay off an unrelated debt. Kituwah Energy Project #2 LLC filed the complaint in Delaware Chancery Court on Monday, alleging fraud, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty tied to a proposed utility-scale solar and battery storage installation in Caldwell County, Texas, known as Project Exodus.
According to Chron, Kituwah funded a joint venture called Jabez 4 10 LLC with the $2.5 million loan in September 2023, carrying a 12 percent annual interest rate and a repayment deadline of February 1, 2024. Jabez 4 10 was formed by Kituwah Energy, Smith and business partner David Mosley's firm 4 13 Solutions, and Wilson Holdings of North America LLC, with Kituwah holding the largest ownership stake in the venture. Smith co-founded 4 13 Solutions with Mosley, and the pair represented to Kituwah that the funds would help form a jointly owned company to develop Project Exodus, per the complaint.
Money Meant for Land Rights Allegedly Went Elsewhere
Instead of acquiring the land rights and ownership interests in Project Exodus, 4 13 Solutions allegedly used the $2.5 million to pay Wilson Holdings, which had prior financial ties to the firm, according to the complaint. Kituwah says Smith and Mosley told the tribal company the funds would go to Genesis Consolidated Industries, a Dallas-based renewable energy architecture firm, in exchange for rights to a land-purchase agreement and ownership stakes in Project Exodus. Genesis Consolidated Industries had been in the process of acquiring the Caldwell County solar land from property owners Walton Texas LP and RUC Holdings LLC before 4 13 Solutions pitched the joint venture, the Delaware complaint details.
Under a side letter, Wilson Holdings was allegedly entitled to payment only after Jabez 4 10 obtained permanent financing — financing the complaint says never came through. Kituwah claims the $2.5 million was diverted to Wilson Holdings without its consent, and that the promised ownership interests in Project Exodus were never transferred to the joint venture. The complaint characterizes the arrangement as essentially a Ponzi scheme, with new investor money used to satisfy older obligations rather than fund the project it was raised for.
A Solar Farm That Never Broke Ground
Project Exodus was planned for a site in Caldwell County, between Austin and San Antonio, and was projected to begin operations by the end of 2024 with first-year income of nearly $14 million, according to the complaint. Kituwah alleges the solar farm never meaningfully progressed. Caldwell County has attracted major renewable energy investment before — the county approved a tax incentive deal in November 2021 for a separate $1 billion utility-scale solar and battery storage development by Chem-Energy, according to KVUE, and Electric Reliability Council of Texas project records from August show dozens of solar, natural gas and battery storage facilities queued across the county to meet regional grid demand, per Cleanview.
Kituwah says it sent formal reservation-of-rights and demand letters to Mosley and Genesis Consolidated Industries in November 2024 and January 2025 demanding repayment before attempting to negotiate restated promissory note terms in May 2025. As of Monday, the loan remained unpaid, and Kituwah calculates the principal and accrued interest now total approximately $3.1 million. The lawsuit names Darrel Wilson, manager of Wilson Holdings, as an individual defendant alongside 4 13 Solutions, Smith, Mosley and Jabez 4 10, according to Front Office Sports. Kituwah is seeking repayment of the loan and accrued interest, reimbursement of legal fees and investigative expenses, and any additional relief the court may award.
Smith's Separate Role as an Alleged Fraud Victim
The Delaware case is not the only fraud litigation touching Smith's business dealings. In a separate matter dating back to 2022, Smith and co-plaintiff Mark Page filed a state lawsuit in Dallas County alleging they were misled by a Southlake businessman and associates into transferring at least $500,000 into Traders Domain FX accounts they could not access, as reported by Yardbarker. In that case, Smith claims he was persuaded to invest in the foreign exchange trading platform in 2022 and that he and Page received daily account balance statements claiming they had earned millions of dollars — earnings the lawsuit says were not real. Smith and the other plaintiffs allegedly never had access to the defendants' controlled bank accounts, and Smith says he was not aware that Traders Domain FX was not registered with the SEC or CFTC to offer foreign currency trading. Johnny Wimbrey, Secap Holdings LLC, Frederick Safranko and Tin Quoc Tran were accused of soliciting at least $500,000 for the foreign trading investments, and the defendants allegedly funneled the funds into bank accounts they controlled. That case remains ongoing in a Dallas courthouse.
The Traders Domain matter has drawn separate federal scrutiny. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a federal civil enforcement action in Florida in September 2024 against Traders Domain FX LTD and 16 co-defendants, alleging they operated a Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 2,000 customers of at least $283 million, according to talkGIGS News. A court-appointed federal receiver unwinding the company filed a clawback lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Texas this past July, seeking to recover alleged false profits from Texas recipients under state fraudulent transfer laws, per Investment News. Smith's position in that case is as an alleged victim, distinct and separate from his role as a defendant in the Kituwah Energy complaint in Delaware.
A Firm With Active Financing Elsewhere
4 13 Solutions has continued to operate commercially even as the Kituwah dispute has escalated. The firm closed a $17.2 million structured finance transaction with Pathward N.A. in February to back its sustainable energy infrastructure portfolio, according to MGV Finance. Kituwah Energy itself was established in 2019 by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians as a tribally owned economic development arm meant to diversify revenues beyond gaming, expanding into commercial real estate, modular home building and hospitality, per Tribal Business News. Neither Smith nor Mosley has publicly responded in detail to the specific allegations laid out in the Delaware complaint.
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