According to a new report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker was tangled up in “a string of defaults, settlements, and lawsuits alleging that Walker and his businesses owed millions of dollars in unpaid loans.”
Walker — on the rare occasion that he is speaking with voters — likes to bring up his reputation as an “accomplished” businessman, but in reality, most of his wealth is “derived from his celebrity status.” Although he touts his resume as evidence of his success as a job creator, Walker, and his business buddies have “defaulted or fell behind in payments on at least eight loans totaling $9 million over the past two decades.”
The only way Walker can make money is by giving speeches in his home state of Texas, or any other state not named Georgia. This week, Walker was caught speaking at the KFC Convention in Orlando, when he should have been out on the campaign trail lying to voters about his successful business ventures.
One thing is for sure, we’re all glad Walker is a terrible salesman, otherwise there may have been far more people buying his snake-oil body spray to protect them against COVID-19.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Herschel Walker’s business record reveals creditor lawsuits, exaggerated claims
By: Dylan Jackson & Greg Bluestein | March 11, 2022
Key Points:
- “While football great Herschel Walker’s bid for the U.S. Senate hinges on his celebrity, he’s just as likely to bring up his reputation as a businessman on the campaign trail.”
- “But an Atlanta Journal-Constitution review of court records and other public documents contradicts statements Walker has made about the number of people his companies employ, their size and the assets they own. The review also revealed a string of defaults, settlements and lawsuits alleging that Walker and his businesses owed millions of dollars in unpaid loans.”
- “And while Walker attributes his wealth to his business acumen, much of it seems to be derived from his celebrity status as a football legend through speaking engagements and brand ambassadorships, according to campaign financial disclosures.”
- “His political opponents, though, say the questions about his business experience are emblematic of a greater problem in his bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock.”
- “‘If you can’t run your own business,’ asked Democratic state Sen. Emanuel Jones, ‘how can you run the nation’s business?’”
- “Walker wasn’t far removed from his football career when he faced a tough business truth: No amount of athletic skill or fame would be enough to push a struggling, cash-strapped business across the goal line to success.”
- “Walker and various business partners have defaulted or fell behind in payments on at least eight loans totaling $9 million over the past two decades, according to an AJC review of hundreds of pages of court documents, Securities and Exchange Commission filings and other public records that detail these financial issues.”
- “In a separate 2011 lawsuit, First Chatham Bank in Savannah sued Walker and Mappin for defaulting on a $300,000 loan related to an unnamed venture.”
- “Walker has, for the most part, avoided interviews with news outlets and has recently said he would not debate his Republican rivals.”
- “But Yale professor Sonnenfeld said that Walker’s litigious business past and misrepresentations of his success raises questions about his trustworthiness, especially as a candidate that has no political record to run on.”
- “‘It shows that he will exploit false information for personal gain. If there’s nothing else you need in public office, you have to have somebody that you can trust,’ said Sonnenfeld, who previously taught at Emory University for nearly a decade. ‘The most important thing there is that he hasn’t established himself as a pillar of trust.’”
Read the full report here.
###
Published: Mar 11, 2022 | Last Modified: Mar 22, 2022