Unpaid workers, lawsuit filed: A closer look at CJF America and the man accused, Courtney Jordan

WRAL Investigates has done several stories on CJF America, whose employees say they were never paid for work performed at summer camps around the state and country.

CJF America's website claims it is a branch of the Courtney Jordan Foundation, although nothing by that name exists in Secretary of State records. So, who is Courtney Jordan? 

Those who have worked for Jordan say he spoke openly of his wealth, claiming to be a billionaire.

The CJF America Instagram shows photos of CJF executives at political events, including at the Governor's Mansion. State Rep. Zack Hawkins was in one of those photos, so WRAL Investigates called him to ask if he knew Courtney Jordan. He said he has met Jordan at political events.

"I’ve known him to present as a young man that is working to do good things," Hawkins said, "I’m sad to hear that has not been the case." 

When you search his name, a "Fandom" page comes up. Fandom is a site that creates encyclopedia type pages. Anyone can create a page.

The Fandom page claims he is worth $8 billion, owns two large estates, and is featured in research on successful Black men. WRAL Investigates fact checked those claims, and none adds up. 

The site claims that Jordan owns Beacon Hill Estates, described as an "1,800-acre summer residence." That estate appears to be a real place in Orange County, according to a Google image search that we verified with the County's Register of Deeds office. Yet their records show no proof Jordan or any of his entities ever owned it.

Next, that English estate mentioned. That doesn't add up, either. WRAL Investigates found a blog post about Jordan buying the so-called "Coke Hall." A reverse image search showed the photos actually depict a different property in England that is run by a foundation. Courtney Jordan is not listed among its members.

The Fandom page also claims Jordan was  part of a research study out of Brown University about successful Black businessmen. WRAL Investigates found the woman listed as the author and emailed her. She replied:" I did not write this article and had no idea it existed." She speculated the article could be AI generated.

Finally, the website claims Jordan started an investigative newspaper in Chatham County. It lists three journalists who were said to be hired from big-name publications. WRAL Investigates found no proof any of them worked for Chatham Weekly. And one of their names was spelled wrong.

WRAL Investigates previously reported that three testimonials on the CJF America site, purportedly written by longtime Durham Mayor Bill Bell, state Rep. Mickey Michaux and former U.S. Sen. Richard Burr were not legitimate. WRAL Investigates also reported that although logos for Duke Energy, Duke University, the city of Durham or Durham County were displayed on CJF America's site, the group had no connections with those entities, either. Those logos were removed from the site after WRAL Investigates started asking questions.

WRAL Investigates has tried multiple times to find Courtney Jordan by phone, by email and by door knocking on addresses we found in public records, but were not successful.

The State's Department of Labor is investigating the issues of nonpayment, as is the Durham Police Department.

WRAL Investigates reported that seven former employees of CJF America filed suit against the company, related companies, and their executives, including Courtney Jordan.