Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the company behind the proposed Nolosha housing development in Lakeville, charging it with consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices and false advertising.

The lawsuit against Nolosha Development LLC and its CEO, Abdiwali Abdullahi, comes a day after Nolosha made two social media posts attacking its former intern, Ammaar Ahmed, who reported concerns about potential fraud to federal and state authorities.

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“If you are selling a product, you need to be honest with your customers about what that product is,” Ellison said in a news release stating that the lawsuit will protect Somali immigrant families.

The development is geared towards East African homebuyers, and aims to build 160 housing units, a mosque, a school, restaurants, and more on a 37-acre parcel of land. Nolosha does not own the property.

“Promising your customers the world, taking massive upfront payments from them, then failing to deliver on those promises is fraud, plain and simple,” said Ellison’s statement. “After numerous complaints to my Office, we discovered a pattern of fraudulent behavior on the part of Nolosha and we are taking action to bring it to an end.”

The Attorney General’s Office opened an investigation into the troubled development about a year ago. A Hennepin...

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