A new 362-page civil lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court last Monday alleges that a factory on the Navajo Nation was “squandering millions on improper and mysterious expenditures” before suddenly shutting down at the former Navajo Generating Station coal power plant back in July.
The Albuquerque-based firm Indigenous Design Studio and Architecture — or IDS+A — claims that Mesa-headquartered subcontractor ZenniHome breached its five-year, $50 million deal to manufacture 160 modular homes.
The Navajo Nation eventually modified its original contract with the company to construct only 80 homes. In all, 18 structures were built. Still, none of those buildings were ever delivered to Navajo families, which plaintiffs say are “partially constructed and abandoned at its manufacturing facility.”
“There’s a whole lot of money that got dumped into Zenni,” said Jay Curtis, shareholder with Phoenix law firm Burch & Cracchiolo, “and obviously only to produce 18 homes, it’s a mystery.”
Attorney Myles Lewallen shared that IDS+A is looking to repair the reputation of its founder, Tamarah Begay, in addition to recouping roughly $22 million American Rescue Plan Act dollars for the Navajo Nation.
“Tamara [Begay] cares a lot about the Navajo Nation and she came into this thinking she was really going to make a difference,” added Lewallen, “do something great and design an easily manufactured home that’s perfect for the Navajo people. So she’s just very upset by this.”
Former Arizona Republican state senator and founder of Skymall, Bob Worsley, is also the CEO of ZenniHome. After hiring forensic accounting firm Capital Edge Consulting to crunch their numbers, he insists there won’t be “a refund of any amount.”
“No, the money’s gone. It’s not sitting in somebody’s account somewhere, so the company has been liquidated,” Worsley told KJZZ. “There’s no more assets. It’s just almost theater when we spent every dime they gave us, and about $4 million more than that — out of my pocket — so yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
Worsley also faces a separate federal class action lawsuit in Arizona from more than 200 employees following last year’s mass layoff. Plaintiffs argue ZenniHome “abruptly terminated” employees “unilaterally and without proper notice,” resulting in a WARN Act violation.
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren weighed in on the IDS+A civil suit, writing on social media that he commends the tribe’s Department of Justice while it also “aggressively pursues all available remedies to recover funds and protect the Nation’s interests.”
“My administration will continue to take decisive action,” added Nygren, “to safeguard public funds and ensure future housing projects are built on transparency, performance, and trust.”
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