DENVER — An online firestorm of allegations surrounds a social media influencer who is accused of taking hundreds of dollars from small businesses but failing to profile their shops on his social media pages.
9NEWS Investigates reviewed Venmo transactions and direct messages between several small businesses and Jonathan Davis, who runs The Denver Foodie pages on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
Within the 24 hours before this story was published, The Denver Foodie changed its name to WhatsUpDenver303 on one of its social media accounts.
Allegations against the popular influencer, who has more than 500,000 followers across his accounts, began last week on TikTok and Reddit.
“We paid him and he never showed up,” Helen Chu, owner of Mr. Tang, a Korean restaurant in Aurora, told 9NEWS Investigates.
Chu showed 9NEWS a Venmo transaction for $200 that went to “Jonathan Davis” and “@thedenverfoodie” in October of last year. Chu said she never received a refund for the deposit a year later, and Davis still hasn’t shot any video at her restaurant.
“How do you do that to somebody when you have so many followers? They trust you,” Chu said.
“He never did what he promised me,” said Juan Luna, owner of Metro Balderas Aztek Food in Aurora. Luna said he gave Davis food and paid him $200 last year, but Davis never posted the video he shot in the kitchen.
“He never fixed it. He never called me back again. He never answered me,” Luna told 9NEWS.
“It’s just unprofessional,” said Michel Polina-Sanchez, owner of Chupacabra Paletas.
Polina-Sanchez paid Davis $300 cash in July, but Davis never posted video he shot at the kitchen where the popsicles are made.
Polina-Sanchez showed 9NEWS unanswered direct messages with Davis that show several attempts to reach him over the past two months. Polina-Sanchez said Davis promised a video would be posted in seven days.
About two hours before this story aired on 9NEWS, The Denver Foodie account finally posted the promised video for Polina-Sanchez.
During a 20 minute recorded phone call with 9NEWS, Davis admitted he got overwhelmed with some of his deals with businesses over the past year and cited a recent divorce amid an exploding social media presence.
“I couldn't get to this point to where I'm at right now, you know, by doing any business dirty. I mean, people love me. They blow me up. My email gets blown up every day. The Denver Broncos just invited me out….I’m big time now,” Davis said to 9NEWS.
Davis initially agreed to answer to the allegations in an on-camera interview, but declined and wanted to do a phone interview instead.
“It's really just been hard for me to keep up, you know. And I'll admit sometimes I might have bit off more than I can chew,” Davis said. "I'm doing it all on my own, you know, on top of building my social media presence. It’s a ton of work."
9NEWS asked Davis if he feels any sympathy for the businesses who feel scammed.
“I could just imagine being in their shoes. I would be pissed off too. You know, they have every right. They have every right to be pissed off. I take 100% full accountability,” Davis said.
“I will contact every single business. I will go through my DMs [direct messages] now that this became an issue over the last year,” Davis said to 9NEWS.
A lawsuit over The Denver Foodie name
Amid the scandal, Davis is currently the target of a lawsuit filed by Jared Wigand, who owns and operates the IMFROMDENVER social media accounts and website.
The lawsuit, filed in Denver civil court in June, accuses Davis of fraudulently violating a non-compete clause in a contract when Davis sold IMFROMDENVER digital assets to Wigand in 2021 for $74,000. Davis was the creator of IMFROMDENVER.
“As a result of the formation of The Denver Foodie prior to the execution of the Asset Purchase Agreement, Defendants committed fraud,” the lawsuit reads.
Court records indicate Davis has made no effort to file any motions or defense pleadings in the case, but he claimed to 9NEWS he still plans to fight the lawsuit.
Wigand is now seeking $82,502.98 from Davis, according to a filing in late September.
“They slipped in that five year non-compete clause very maliciously,” Davis said of the lawsuit.
“They had me sign a contract. And they were really deceitful about it. They slipped in a five year non-compete clause. And that's the only thing I did wrong with these guys, was I signed that damn contract with the non-compete clause,” Davis told 9NEWS.
“Despite having every opportunity to present his case in court, he has repeatedly chosen not to show up to his scheduled court dates,” a spokesperson for IMFROMDENVER wrote in a statement to 9NEWS.
“Jonathan Davis is a fraud and a conman in our opinion and we hope that the small businesses he has taken advantage of will be able to recover their money, just as we seek to do for our own,” the statement read.
Shortly before this story was broadcast on 9NEWS, Davis claimed the people behind IMFROMDENVER hacked his page and took over his email, causing him to lose contact with businesses.
Sometime on Monday or Tuesday, Davis changed the name of The Denver Foodie Instagram account to WhatsUpDenver303. Davis claimed the name change had nothing to do with this anticipated news story, or the lawsuit.
If you have any information about this story or would like to send a news tip, you can contact jeremy@9news.com.