Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has filed a lawsuit against a land developer alleging that it “misrepresented numerous important sale details” to get Somali-American families to make $25,000 down payments for homes in a proposed Lakeville development.

The civil action, filed Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court against Nolosha Development LLC and its owner, Abdiwali Abdullahi, alleges consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices and false advertising. It aims to stop the company’s “misrepresentations” and seeks “full refunds for the hundreds of families who paid significant sums for their dream home,” according to a statement issued by the attorney general’s office.

Nolosha Development marketed the proposed development, called Nolosha Lakeville, through its website and collected more than $1 million from 160 families, according to the lawsuit. “If a customer cancels and asks for their money back, then Defendants unfairly retain between 10% and 20% of the $25,000 deposit,” the lawsuit alleges.

After the initial 160 lots were reserved, Nolosha began charging $500 for customers to be added to a waitlist. There are more than 1,500 customers on the waitlist.

The lawsuit contends Nolosha’s fraudulent representations and “falsehoods” include: single-family homes when “at best they will build multi-family housing;” that homes would be sold with no-interest payment plans; and completion in 2023 and 2024 “when in fact the company has not bought the land, obtained necessary permits, nor hired a construction company to even break ground.”

Nolosha also has no plans to build amenities such as Halal food markets, a mosque and an Islamic school they told customers would be part of the development, the lawsuit asserts.

“If you are selling a product, you need to be honest with your customers about what that product is,” Ellison said. “Promising your customers the world, taking massive upfront payments from them, then failing to deliver on those promises is fraud, plain and simple.”

Nolosha was brought to the attention of the attorney general’s office last year after complaints the company was engaging in business fraud and that Nolosha Lakeville was being falsely advertised.

The attorney general’s office said that after it opened an investigation, some of Nolosha’s customers said the developer refused to provide full or even partial refunds. When the attorney general’s office requested that Nolosha offer customers full refunds due to their alleged false representations, they refused and stopped cooperating with the investigation.

Later, a court order compelled Nolosha to turn over information related to the probe, but Nolosha refused to comply and stated it would appeal that order, the attorney general’s office said.

A call was made Wednesday to Nolosha Development seeking comment on the lawsuit, however, no one answered and its mailbox was full so a message could not be left. An email to Nolosha spokesperson Carol Schuler for comment was not returned.

Related Articles

Haunted mazes, jack-o’-lantern festivals, fall arts: A roundup of Twin Cities Halloween events

Eagan City Council backs state assistance for Solventum, 3M’s health care spin-off, as it eyes BCBS site

Reward increased for ongoing Dakota County missing woman investigation

Have questions about home buying? Get answers at Thursday’s housing fair.

Stalled motorhome catches fire in Eagan, kills driver

By MELISSA GOLDIN

Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have recently claimed that hundreds of thousands of migrant children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border unaccompanied are missing, then criticized the border policies of the Biden administration and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, repeated the claim during Tuesday night’s debate.

“We have 320,000 children that the Department of Homeland Security has effectively lost,” he said as he met Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in what is likely the last debate of the 2024 presidential campaign.

But immigration experts say the claims regarding missing migrant children lack significant context.

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: The Biden administration has lost more than 300,000 unaccompanied migrant children.

THE FACTS: This claim misrepresents information in an August report published by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General, which faulted Immigration and Customs Enforcement for failing to consistently “monitor the location and status of unaccompanied migrant children” once they are released from federal government custody.

The report noted that more than 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children had not, as of May 2024, received a notice to appear in court. Additionally, more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children got a notice to appear but then failed to show up for immigration court hearings. Those figures came from ICE and covered a period from October 2018 to September 2023. During that period there were a total of 448,820 unaccompanied children released by ICE to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement.

But experts say it is a stretch to refer to roughly 300,000 children as “lost” or “missing.”

“This is not a ‘missing kids’ problem; it’s a ‘missing paperwork’ problem,” Jonathan Beier, associate director of research and evaluation for the Acacia Center for Justice’s Unaccompanied Children Program, wrote in an email.

Plus, President Joe Biden only entered the White House partway through this period. It includes approximately 15 months when Trump was president and does not specify how many children arrived in the U.S. under each president.

Experts say there are many reasons why the children might not have appeared for hearings or received a notice to appear in the first place. For example, they only get a notice to appear when removal proceedings against them have begun, and if ICE hasn’t started that removal process, they wouldn’t have gotten a notice in the first place.

A lack of communication between government agencies could mean a notice is sent to the wrong address if it has been updated with one agency and not another. A child’s guardian may be unable to take them to court, perhaps because they live on the other side of the state.

The report does not provide any explanations.

“All of these factors can explain some of the deficiencies and a conclusion that the children are missing could be very, very premature,” said Raul Pinto, deputy legal director for transparency at the American Immigration Council.

Related Articles

Cybersecurity head says there’s no chance a foreign adversary can change US election results

The president could invoke a 1947 law to try to suspend the dockworkers’ strike. Here’s how

Prosecutors: Trump ‘resorted to crimes’ after losing 2020 election in failed bid to cling to power

Alaska resource projects and landscapes are again in the crosshairs of a presidential election

‘The white-hot laser of hate’ is trained on Springfield, Ohio. How long will it last?

Carmen Hills, an ICE spokesperson, said the agency agreed with the inspector general’s recommendations to improve information sharing within ICE and externally with HHS, but disagreed with the suggestion that the children are missing.

“We are concerned that the report’s findings are misleading and may be misconstrued because they fail to acknowledge key facts,” she said.

Hills said ICE does not generally issue court notices to unaccompanied children “until after they have been placed with sponsors who have been vetted by HHS” so that they can get settled and seek legal help.

Representatives for HHS and Vance did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

An unaccompanied migrant child is defined by the U.S. government as someone who is under 18, lacks lawful immigration status and has no parent or guardian in the country to take custody of them. When they’re apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security, they’re transferred to the HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement.

They are then placed “in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interests of the child,” according to the resettlement office. That can mean shelters, foster care or residential treatment centers, among other options. If possible, children are released to sponsors, often family members, who can care for them.

Removal proceedings may be initiated by ICE and the Department of Justice. Some children are able to stay in the U.S. legally if they qualify for asylum, special visas for victims of abuse, trafficking and other crimes, or other types of immigration relief. In those cases, removal proceedings may never start.

___

Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.