The embattled owner of a scuttled Lakeville development that was supposed to cater to the Somali community must repay customers for homes that were never built, Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Tuesday.
A Dakota County judge this week ordered Nolosha Development and its CEO Abdiwali Abdullahi to pay civil penalties and repay consumers money they put toward homes in the proposed development, which Ellison’s office began investigating in 2023.
The ruling ends a lawsuit Ellison filed in October 2024, alleging the developer engaged in consumer fraud when he took large down payments for homes that weren’t constructed.
A date for a hearing that will determine the amount Abdullahi must pay hasn’t been set. Ellison’s office previously said customers paid all or part of a $25,000 “pre-reservation” to ensure a spot in the development.
“Nolosha Development and Abdiwali Abdullahi cheated families out of their life savings by making extravagant promises they had no ability to deliver on,” Ellison said in a news release. “That’s fraud, plain and simple, and my team and I held them accountable for it.”
Abdullahi couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Tuesday evening.
The judgment is the latest chapter in the state’s efforts to deal with the fallout from Nolosha, which Abdullahi once billed as “the first community built from the ground up with a focus on public health and community wealth-building” for East African customers.
Whistleblowers who claimed the company was engaging in business fraud brought the project to Ellison’s attention in 2023. An investigation later found Abdullahi falsely claimed he owned the 37 acres of land for the development.
