Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith has been accused in a lawsuit of defrauding a Native American investment firm out of $2.5 million in a solar farm scheme. Kituwah LLC, the economic development arm of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, filed the suit in Delaware on Monday, alleging that Smith, his business partner David Mosley and their real estate firm 413 Solutions Inc. persuaded it to loan the money for a project called Project Exodus. The case matters because it implicates one of the NFL's most decorated players in serious fraud allegations involving a tribal investment body.

Kituwah says it was promised a partnership stake and told the US Department of Energy would help fund the venture, but claims it has not received a penny back on a loan now more than two years overdue. It alleges its money was instead used to repay a separate earlier investor and, after its own investigation, that funds were diverted to Wilson Holdings, a firm linked to Smith and his associates on other deals. Kituwah has likened the arrangement to "essentially, like a Ponzi scheme" and is seeking at least $2.5 million in damages plus interest and costs. Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher with 18,355 yards, mostly played for the Dallas Cowboys, winning three Super Bowls.