Source: JIM WATSON / Getty
SOLON, Ohio – A Cleveland Heights pastor, with ties to President Donald Trump, is being sued for back rent on a home in Solon that was allegedly paid for by his church.
Darrell Scott, Pastor at New Spirit Revival Center at 3130 Mayfield Road, is named in a lawsuit filed in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
Scott, who rose to prominence for his early support of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, hosted Trump for a town hall meeting at his church in September.
Then, last month during an event honoring Black History Month at The White House, Scott claimed Chicago’s “top gang thugs” had contacted him in order to reach President Trump. Scott later claimed he misspoke and blamed the error on a lack of sleep.
When contacted by News 5 on Friday, Scott’s former landlord Munna Argarwal said he wants Scott to pay $563,000 in unpaid rent and fees, or more than $1.7 million to buy the home outright.
Argarwal said he entered into an unusual rent-to-own agreement with Darrell and Belinda Scott in 2010, out of desperation over the slow economy. But Argarwal said the couple, who lived in the home for six years, fell behind on their weekly payment plan.
He showed News 5 the handwritten agreement, which included an option to purchase the house.
Argarwal said a second, typed agreement was never signed, but he said the original handwritten document is legally binding.
“You can write an agreement on toilet paper,” he said, “So long as it’s signed.”
Scott turned down multiple requests for an on-camera interview, but in a text message called the lawsuit, “fake.”
“Well, we’ll see. We’ll see. My attorney feels like this is 110% guaranteed,” Argarwal said. “If he’s calling it a fake deal or a fake lawsuit, he’s definitely a con artist.”
READ MORE: News5Cleveland.com
Article and Video Courtesy of WEWS News 5 Cleveland
Picture Courtesy of Jim Watson and Getty Images
