Clients of Self-Described Crisis Manager for Celebrities Allege Tens of Thousands of Dollars Lost

A former crisis manager for disgraced musician R. Kelly is facing accusations from several people who tell the News4 I-Team their real – and really pricey – problems began after they turned to him for help.

In interviews with the I-Team, multiple people in D.C. and across the country accused Darrell Johnson of defrauding them out of tens of thousands of dollars in deals gone wrong. Some said they hired him to manage their personal crises, while others said they invested in real estate deals with him that either never materialized or quickly went bust.

Restaurateur Markell Johnson of D.C. said he’s out more than tens of thousands of dollars after hiring Darrell Johnson to help him recoup money from another bad business deal.

He said he first met Johnson while both were living in the same Navy Yard apartment building, where Johnson stood out for his flashy designer clothes and bragged about a rolodex of A-list clients.

"He said: ‘You know, I'm a guy who works behind the scenes. I can help you, potentially. I have opportunities, you know, and connections that you could benefit from,’" Markell said.

He said he asked Johnson for referrals or advice on how to recoup the $21,000 he lost when he invested in another man’s pizza franchise.

“He's like: ‘We can get this back. Like, I'm very sure I can do this for you. I can help … let’s meet, though,’” Markell recalled. “And that’s the part where it starts to speed up.”

Johnson’s help didn’t come cheap, Markell said, and he was told to pay in cash.

Markell said he initially expected to pay Johnson $15,000, telling the I-Team Johnson convinced him he’d be able to recoup even more in interest and in damages.

But according to Markell, Johnson then told him he’d need to pay for extra “services” that quickly added up.

We had plans that we've worked hard for, that we've put so much effort into, and it’s squandered.

Markell Johnson, restaurateur

Though Markell signed a contract for "crisis management services" and agreed to pay Johnson $19,800, in the end Markell said he paid almost $70,000 – which included $40,000 Johnson told him he needed to hold in “escrow” but allegedly promised to return.

Markell said when he asked for those escrow dollars back, Johnson didn’t deliver.

“We had plans that we've worked hard for, that we've put so much effort into, and it’s squandered,” he said.

Markell isn’t the only one to tell the I-Team he lost money to Johnson, who declined multiple requests for an interview.

The I-Team interviewed almost a dozen other people who say they or their clients lost tens of thousands of dollars in deals with Johnson that went nowhere.

“It's about taking as much money as he can get, as fast as he can get it,” Otis Lanier of Houston told the I-Team.

Lanier said he met Johnson in a chance encounter in 2011, and before long, Johnson convinced him to invest $30,000 in a restaurant with him. Lanier’s friend also invested $30,000 in the venture, he said.

Though the restaurant did eventually open, Lanier said things quickly went downhill, with customers even warning Lanier against doing business with Johnson. 

“Long story short, I found out that he was taking the money and spending it on his personal use, and he blocked me from the books,” Lanier told the I-Team. “He didn't want me to have access.”

Lanier said he and his friend soon discovered they weren’t the only ones to invest in the restaurant.

The I-Team found civil filings brought by another man against Johnson in connection to the New Orleans Famous Chicken and Waffles restaurant. In the 2011 filing, the man said that, after he invested $5,000, Johnson wrongly used his credit card to charge more than $20,000 and failed to repay.

Lanier told the I-Team he didn’t sue Johnson because his attorney told him that even if he won, he’d be unlikely to collect.

Michael Harris of Philadelphia said he met Johnson on a flight from Atlanta to Houston in 2019.

“It was a friendly conversation,” Harris recalled. “He started telling me about what he does and all the people he was representing. I don't know if any of it was true.”

When Harris mentioned an interest in real estate investing, he said Johnson told him he often worked with younger guys “and brought them in on a couple of really big deals.”

Before long, he said Johnson convinced him to invest roughly $22,000 in real estate transactions he later realized didn’t exist.

“He said several times, ‘I have your money; I'm going to pay you,’” Harris said. “He never did.”

Phyllis “Cola” Lewis said she was still grieving when – after a chance meeting – she hired Johnson after her mother passed away from an alleged medical error in Texas in 2019.

Johnson, she said, assured her he’d be able to reach an agreement with the hospital. 

“’I can help you get media attention; I can help you get your story and the injustice about how your mom was treated,’” she said Johnson told her.

Official court records indicate Lewis paid at least $16,000 to Johnson before she realized she was being duped, but Lewis said that filing didn’t include records of additional payments she made to Johnson. She said she’s out more than $28,000.

Now, she’s behind a social media campaign sharing stories from others who say they, too, lost thousands in deals gone wrong.

“I want him to be exposed,” Lewis said, adding: “I want him to be incarcerated.”

That could happen now in Texas, where Harris County Assistant District Attorney Sheila Hansel is prosecuting Johnson on charges of theft and credit card fraud in cases involving Harris, Lewis and another person.

“If you are lied to and you give your money to someone because they lied to you and you relied on that lie when you gave them the money, it's theft by deception and it's a crime,” Hansel said.

The I-Team found Johnson has several prior civil suits and judgments against him in Harris County. Hansel said it's the years-long pattern of bad dealings that led her to pursue a criminal case.

“I can't always stop con men, but I can slow them down every now and then,” she said.

Though Johnson declined to share his side of the story, citing his ongoing legal troubles in Texas, he told the I-Team in a text, “I am innocent and I will have my day in court.”

The I-Team has also reached out to multiple attorneys listed as representing Johnson in his ongoing trial. None has yet responded.

Markell said Johnson has paid him back almost $14,000 of that $40,000 “escrow” deposit – a couple hundred bucks at a time – but he isn’t confident he’ll see the rest. Nor has Johnson delivered on Markell’s initial request to help him recoup the $21,000 he lost in the first place.

In the meantime, Markell is planning on opening a second restaurant location in D.C. and said he’s learned from this costly experience.

“We’re going to get through this,” Markell told the I-Team. "Accountability is going to be had at some point for him, and hopefully this kind of brings closure, you know, to a hard lesson.”

Markell has filed a complaint with the Metropolitan Police Department, which told the I-Team it’s still investigating.

Reported by Susan Hogan, produced by Katie Leslie, and shot by Steven Jones, Carlos Olazagasti and Jeff Piper.