Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher and a three-time Super Bowl champion with the Dallas Cowboys, is facing a lawsuit accusing him of conning $2.5 million out of a Native American investment firm.
The suit was filed this week in Delaware by Kituwah LLC, the investment and economic development arm of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Kituwah claims it loaned Smith $2.5 million after he persuaded the firm to join a real estate venture alongside his business partner, David Mosley, and their company.
The loan is now more than two years overdue. Kituwah says it has not recovered a single dollar and alleges the money was instead funneled to repay a different company that had previously invested in the same project.
Kituwah’s complaint describes Smith’s pitch as a “ploy” resting on a “steady stream of lies,” and says the firm has had to spend additional money just trying to figure out what happened to its funds.
“Kituwah poured substantial time, efforts, and resources into the purported joint venture. Not only has Kituwah not seen any returns on its investment, Kituwah has been forced to expend additional costs in efforts to reclaim the amounts it is still owed pursuant to its investment, including to investigate what happened to its money.”
The lawsuit lists six causes of action, including fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract, according to Front Office Sports.
Interest has piled up on top of the original loan. Kituwah says close to $600,000 in interest has accrued, pushing the total balance owed to more than $3 million. Last year, the firm offered to waive that interest if Smith repaid the loan in full by August 31, 2025. Kituwah says that offer, like its other attempts to resolve the matter, was “effectively ignored.”
The suit seeks at least $2.5 million in damages, plus interest, costs, and expenses, along with additional damages to be determined at trial. Kituwah is also asking the court to award attorneys’ fees and other litigation costs, plus “further relief as the court deems just and proper.”
