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Greg Parker Jr., known online as Big Bizzneesss, and his wife Danielle “Nikki” Morris Parker, present themselves as jet-setting real-estate moguls who have built a $40 million empire. And, they offered to share the secrets to real-estate investing with their 285,000 Instagram followers, for a price.
But, now, they and their companies are facing seven federal lawsuits filed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act alleging that they and their companies were defrauding the novice investors they’d promised to mentor. There are more lawsuits in state courts in Philadelphia and Cleveland, and internet scam-busters have identified numerous other alleged victims. In the past several months, the FBI has been asking questions.
Critics say the couple — who did not respond to messages — are part of an online scam economy that thrived during the pandemic, when many people were spending more time on social media and had more access to capital than ever. “Now,” according to financial planner and YouTube scam-buster Jayson Thornton, “with all the stimulus and unemployment money running out, we’re starting to see the bubble pop and Ponzi schemes and pyramid schemes failing.”
Here’s what you need to know about the alleged scam — and here’s the full investigation.
1. Parker grew up in Brewerytown, and saw Donald Trump as a role model.
Greg Parker, who grew up in North Philadelphia, spotted the future president while at one of Trump’s hotels in Atlantic City. “Every celebrity, they made like a walkway,” he said, during a 2020 interview on the podcast Earn Your Leisure. “It might sound crazy, but that sparked me. … A lot of people are out here to make money. But having money and having power are two different things.”
He got into real estate nearly 20 years ago, flipping properties in Brewerytown, and claimed to be bringing in $150,000 a month. Identifying the true extent of the couple’s holdings is complicated because they used dozens of shell companies, but The Inquirer confirmed that the Parkers sold at least 95 properties in Philadelphia alone for a combined $4.4 million.
» READ MORE: Philly real-estate guru Greg Parker inspired hundreds to invest. Now some say it was a scam.
2. The Parkers sold an image of success — but faced bankruptcy and foreclosure.
Parker’s social media is filled with images of private planes, swimming pools and yachts. But Parker filed for personal bankruptcy in 2018 and had to fend off foreclosure of the family’s Woolwich Township, N.J., home. A Parker-owned company, Diamante Enterprises, also filed for bankruptcy this year as creditors sought to collect nearly $1 million in judgments.
While they made big gestures like opening a Parker Family Community Learning Center in Brewerytown and stepping in to save a grieving father’s home as a “heartfelt” gift, the former community center is now up for sale and the father’s home, years later, remains titled to the Parkers.
3. Parker offered pricey mentorships, but former clients say they were scammed.
In lawsuits, clients who payed thousands of dollars for Parker’s one-on-one mentorship said he never fulfilled that service. And one former client who received his $65 book, RehabGoon, was shocked to find it was only 40 pages in huge font, mostly information that’s available on Philadelphia’s Licenses & Inspections website.
Others paid as much as $1,200 for Parker’s real-estate boot camp, during which he instructed clients to pool thousands of dollars into joint ventures to purchase properties in cheaper markets such as Cleveland or Baltimore.
“The story and the dream that he was pitching,” said Shakir Ali of Pennsauken, N.J., “we believed in it and we wanted it to work.”
4. Former clients say Parker took their money for bogus property deals.
Some who attended Parker’s trainings said that when they gave him money for real-estate purchases he simply kept the money. Others said they took on tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt, on Parker’s advice, to purchase property from Parker that he did not own.
And some said that Parker sold them properties in Cleveland and elsewhere that turned out to be condemned or burdened with unpaid tax liens that exceeded the value of the property.
In some cases, they said that Parker falsely claimed to be renovating properties on their behalf to keep the investments flowing.
5. The FBI has been asking questions.
A Cleveland FBI spokesperson would not confirm whether an investigation is underway, but several former Parker clients said they’ve fielded inquiries.
Meanwhile, the Parkers’ social media pages indicate that they’re continuing their business as usual.
One former client, Benjamin Nelson of East Lansdowne, said he was initially heartened to see that Parker had posted a form to address client issues. But he was disappointed to see it was no longer prominent on Parker’s Instagram.
“They were the people that introduced me to real estate,” said Nelson, who is suing to recover $20,000 from Parker. “I wasn’t expecting the person I learned the thing from to do that to me.”