WASHINGTON — There are new questions concerning Brian Davis’s claims of vast wealth and business success as the NFL considers his $7 billion bid to purchase the Washington Commanders.
WUSA9 has obtained court documents which reveal Davis was sued six days after submitting his Commanders bid, for failure to repay $322,000 in loans to a D.C. man.
The lawsuit, filed in D.C. Superior Court March 27, accuses Davis and his company, Urban Echo Capitol Heights, of failing to repay loans of $230,000 and $92,000 to Maryam Mahdavi of Northeast D.C. The lawsuit does not specify what the loans were for, but claim both were due in the Spring of 2020. The lawsuit seeks a judgement for the $322,000 in loans plus $200 a day in penalties for every day each loan is overdue.
Davis's bid documents submitted to the Washington Commanders current owner, Dan Snyder, obtained by WUSA9, state he is the owner of Urban Echo Energy LLC, "a LEED certified developer of renewable energy assets." It is unclear how that company may be connected to the one in the lawsuit.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Green Building Council told WUSA9 the description "LEED certified developer" is inaccurate because USGBC does not certify developers or organizations. The spokesperson was not able to find any LEED certified projects owned or administered by Urban Echo Energy LLC.
Davis denied all claims that his projects weren't LEED certified when asked about WUSA9’s reporting on his company’s certification status in an interview Wednesday morning on 106.7 The Fan.
“Our development, which was the West Village, was the first LEED certified and green development in the country and that’s a fact. As I said, I am not Nikolai Tesla but I am the person who has been doing the same thing for 25 years. I haven’t made a great splash but this is the opportunity for growth.”
“And the way I respond to that is the West Village is the first green Leed certified development in America. We went from Gold, we went to silver, we went to platinum. And as an individual I can't represent that I’m LEED but as the owner, the majority owner, the person that created it, I can represent that so that’s why I’m representing it and if they want to tell me that it’s not then that would be a lie. Because we’re the first green guys in America the west village in Durham.”
Thursday afternoon, the USBGC reaffirmed Davis has no LEED certified projects.
“While some projects claim to be LEED compliant, only projects that have registered to undergo the rigorous, third-party verification process and have met all the requirements can call themselves LEED certified. Currently, we do not see West Village as a LEED-certified or registered project in our system” a spokesperson wrote in an email to WUSA9.
Davis claims his new business ventures do not have the issues of past dealings, which led to accusations of fraud in multiple lawsuits. David apologized for those issues, and claims all investors from that period have been paid back.
One of those investors, former NFL great Shawn Merriman, told WUSA9 on Wednesday that is not true, and that he has not been “paid back fully” by Davis.
“If [Davis] wants to make it right he will take care of me financially,” Merriman told WUSA9.
>Read the court documents below: