The owner of a Louisiana construction firm that is the target of several lawsuits alleging fraud and other unsavory business practices insists he never tried to entice a former NFL player or others to invest in a North Dakota man camp that allegedly lost millions of dollars.
A recent Business Report cover story, “Broken Deals,” centers primarily on developer Nathian Hossley’s failed business venture with former NFL player Jarvis Green and several other investors to develop a “man camp” in Watford City, North Dakota.
Green has said Hossley preyed on unsuspecting wealthy victims and used money from the failed business ventures to live a lavish lifestyle.
Attempts to reach Hossley for the initial story were unsuccessful and Hossley’s attorney declined to comment on his behalf or make Hossley available for an interview before the story ran. However, after the story was published, Hossley contacted Business Report to to give his side of the story.
Contrary to allegations, Hossley responds in a feature from the current issue that he did not try to entice Green into investing in the man camp project. Rather, Green came to him, asking to buy in, Hossley says.
“He came to me,” Hossley says. “He was retiring. … I wasn’t in a financial position where I needed him.”
Hossley says he had no need for Green’s or anyone’s money at the time because his company, First Millennium Construction, was thriving. As proof, he produced for Business Report a copy of a 2010 tax return showing First Millennium’s gross revenues as $14.1 million.
Hossley says he did not cause the man camp project to run out of money, as Green alleges in court documents and also in an interview with Business Report. Rather, Hossley blames the project’s troubles on cost overruns that were the result of not having formal construction documents for the development, and also on higher than expected labor costs.
“I had to bring my whole crew from Louisiana to North Dakota because there were labor shortages up there,” he says. “So there were extra expenses that we didn’t account for.”
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