There is new information about Brian Davis and his attempt to purchase the Washington Commanders from Dan Snyder earlier this year and the source of his alleged funding – which he claimed to be an estate in the Philippines – that resulted in a lawsuit being filed and then dropped against the bank managing the sale. It turns out the funding appears to have been the work of a convicted felon, according to the reporting of Pablo Torre. And that's not all, Torre reports that Davis' original March bid of $7.1 billion was later topped by a second bid in July before the sale to the Josh Harris-led group was ratified by the NFL.
This episode begins a few days after the Harris-led group reached an agreement in principle with Snyder to purchase the franchise for $6.05 billion. Davis, a former local high school basketball standout and two-time national champion at Duke, claimed that he had made a higher bid in March. One of the issues with Davis' bid was that he was not seen as a legitimate bidder by just about everyone, including Bank of America, who was managing the sale for Snyder.
Davis told the Sports Junkies in April that he was a billionaire.
“Yes, I am making that suggestion. I just finalized a relationship with some of the wealthiest people in the world to help uplift my people and community, and I do (have a net worth of over $1 billion) today,” Davis said on 106.7 The Fan in April. “I’ve developed over the last several years, and managed a relationship where we’ve had this capital over a couple of months; we haven’t transacted, but we’d like to sign a contract. We haven’t begun to spend major capital, but we hope to, soon.”
And to make the bid, Davis told the Junkies that his "money comes from white people... who are Jewish, Italian, and Sicilian."
“My personal net worth is because of my partners who are multi-billionaires…I’m representing them, but I’ve sold my intellectual property, which allowed me to have a large amount of capital, but this capital is a direct reflection of the business model,” Davis told The Junkies in April. “I’m not saying I’m special, I’m saying the business model is special. We have two major verticals: distributive power generation and wholesale utility production, and between those two things, we’re able to generate about $5 billion a year capital on 5,000 acres we own and control today – and I was the first person in America to do it.”
In order to submit the bid, Davis sent Bank of America a $5.1 billion bank draft from Citi Bank, but BofA believed the documents to be "fictitious" and that led to a lawsuit Davis filed in late May. The bank draft included the signatures of two named trustees for the estate of Severino Garcia Santa Romana of the Philippines. Severino Garcia Santa Romana was, according to some lore, a World War II figure and possibly a CIA operative who found or looted billions of dollars of Japanese gold hidden across the Philippines during the war.
On Friday, Torre, on his podcast for Meadowlark Media "Pablo Torre Finds Out," attempts to get to the bottom of why Davis would have made such wild claims and sued Bank of America for $500 billion in a wild attempt when the source of funding seemed so spurious?
Torre reports that Davis bank draft from Wells Fargo SGSR Statutory Trust, which has no relation to the well-known Wells Fargo bank, could been the work of a man with the birth name of Donald Norvell Calhoun, who had been one of the signed trustees on the bank draft using the name Donald Demery.
"Who is Donald Norvell Calhoun?" Torre said. "Well, according to one lawsuit from July 2022, 'Donald Calhoun is a career con man who has swindled millions of dollars from people and businesses across the United States. Donald Calhoun's scams all seem to share a common characteristic. Donald Calhoun makes promises of financing to people and businesses that need money.'"
In 2003, Calhoun was "sentenced to 37 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to a fraud scheme that cost investors $1.8 million," Torre said, and added that Calhoun was involved in a lawsuit in 2018 involving a fake check that had the name Severino Garcia Santa Romana.
It appears, to Torre, that Davis was the victim of a scam.
Davis would drop his lawsuit against Bank of America by June. But that was not the end of the saga as the former Duke standout forwarded an email to a former teammate that Davis emailed Bank of America a second bid for the Commanders franchise around the July 4 holiday. In that email, Davis wrote that he had "posted an excess of $10 billion at BNY Mellon in New York City. We would like to have the opportunity to escrow the amount in your account immediately," the email said.
"We would like to give Mr. Snyder $8.1 billion: 7.9 billion for the acquisition of the franchise, 100 million for the breakup fee for the other group, 70 million for Mr. and Mrs. Snyder..." the email from Davis continued, according to Torre.
"Our bankers at BNY Mellon and Wells Fargo are available at any time to answer any of your questions. We look forward to hearing from you and thank you for your time and consideration, warmest regards, Brian," the email said.