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A woman hired a private detective after waiting months for her tiny home to be completed.
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She discovered that the founder of Holy Ground Tiny Houses had no assets to his name, NBC reported.
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Matt Sowash promised small home buyers but filed for bankruptcy, court records show.
A woman resorted to hiring a private investigator to find out why her tiny home hadn’t been delivered months after paying nearly $50,000, NBC News reported.
Matt Sowash, the founder of Colorado-based nonprofit Holy Ground Tiny Houses, faces multiple lawsuits after being accused of failing to deliver homes.
Lori Birckhead, who runs the By Faith Farm in Tennessee with her husband, transferred $46,504 to Sowash in April for an 8-by-28-foot house to put on their property and was told to expect delivery in July. .
She told NBC that after multiple attempts to contact Sowash, an aide said it could take more than two years for the house to be completed.
“That was when I hired a private detective who did some digging and discovered he had no assets to his name,” she told the outlet.
Court records show Sowash filed for bankruptcy on October 7, despite telling NBC in September that he wouldn’t “because I can’t sit back and watch all these people lose their homes.”
He also told NBC that he wasn’t sure he could build the 250 homes that had already been paid for.
In an update to customers on Oct. 14, he wrote: “This has really been a week of change. I would like to first apologize for this situation. Unfortunately, submitting Chapter 11 is the only way I can make sure the business is safe.” and that we can meet our commitment to make sure everyone gets their money back.”
Lender Kinetic Direct Funding filed a lawsuit against him in state court in Brooklyn, New York, on Sept. 2.
Sowash told NBC that he borrowed a $400,000 loan from Kinetic to build the houses, but was unable to make the payments.
Charles Dowling, 39, a disabled Army veteran who lives near Colorado Springs, told NBC he slept on friends’ couches because the 10-foot house he ordered with a $22,000 down payment wasn’t due in July either. arrived.
“He’s nothing but a shy, and no one should ever do business with this man,” Dowling said of Sowash.
The Englewood Police Department in Colorado said it is investigating the allegations against Sowash and his nonprofit, NBC reported. Police did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Sowash was sentenced to five years in prison in 2009 for defrauding investors of more than $470,000 and was also convicted of stealing $140,000 from three people who believed he was seeking investment opportunities for them.
He discovered an interest in tiny houses while in prison and previously told NBC that he built his first house in his garage in 2019 and sold it for $12,000.
Sowash did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
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