A lending executive sued Community Bankshares Inc. and three related entities in Georgia federal court, alleging they persuaded him to invest $2 million in personal capital plus nine months of work into making their businesses profitable before terminating him and denying him promised conversion and equity rights, compensation and bonuses.

In a complaint filed Wednesday, lending executive Christopher Hurn and his company Julrei Enterprises LLC alleged that CBI, Community Bank & Trust – West Georgia, Phoenix Lender Services LLC and Thomas Financial Group Inc. recruited Hurn to rebuild and scale CBI and its related lending and lender-services businesses in June 2023.

As part of coming over to do that work, Hurn said he agreed to consolidate and bring his JulRei team to CBI, assume a leadership role in the company that would make him its "effective 'number two'" executive and act as the designated successor and long-term partner to CBI's current leadership. He did so, and, according to the suit, more than 95% of Hurn's former employees were working at CBI, CB&T or the entity that would become Phoenix by January 2024.

From August 2023 through the following April, Hurn said he often worked more than 60 hours per week in a "senior executive"-style role without drawing a salary based on ongoing assurances that his compensation, equity participation and executive status would be formalized once organizational structure, budgets and capitalization plans were finalized.

By February 2024, Hurn said he was "informally named" and marketed as the president of Small Business Administration lending for CBI. Then, that April, he said he executed an independent contractor and consulting agreement stating he would provide consulting services and centralized management services to CBI in exchange for compensation of $31,250 per month.

CBI Chairman Jeremy Gilpin and Steve Jeffries, CB&T's president, began to seek financing in September 2024, Hurn said, and at their "insistence," he said he provided $800,000 to CBI. Then, in November 2024, Hurn said the companies again needed capital that he provided by investing $1.2 million for 600,000 shares of CBI common stock. Hurn said that investment translated to roughly 4.9% ownership in CBI and allowed leadership to launch Phoenix in January 2025.

Before Phoenix's launch, in December 2024, Hurn said he was appointed to CBI's board of directors and named president of the company. He also said he took on the title of CBI's CEO and was elevated to president and CEO of Phoenix. A few months later, an amended and restated independent contractor and consulting services agreement was executed.

Under that new agreement, Hurn said he agreed to provide services "filling the role of president and CEO" in exchange for $45,000 per month and an annual bonus with a target equal to 12 times the monthly consulting fee. The agreement also changed termination mechanics, he said, making it so CBI had to provide 90 days' written notice for termination without cause.

Things seemed to be going well, but in August 2025, Hurn said he received a two-page letter from the USDA asking CBI to voluntarily agree to a suspension of its approved lender status. This resulted from perceived delinquencies on CB&T's USDA loans, all of which he alleged were tied to Gilpin as the originator.

Gilpin was given the letter but stated that it could be handled without the involvement of CB&T's board, according to the suit. Hurn and Gilpin then worked together to draft a 33-page response letter and Hurn was scheduled to meet with those involved to correct the misconceptions in October, but he said that did not happen because of the government shutdown.

Instead, Hurn said CBI's leadership began discussing his removal and ultimately determined he should be "pushed out." Hurn said he tried to negotiate an "orderly separation" at that time but instead CBI circulated an "'organizational change' email" falsely stating that he resigned from his roles in order to address "'necessary corrective actions.'"

"This statement was false," Hurn said. "Gilpin framed plaintiff's departure as an immediate resignation tied to 'corrective actions,' thereby implying misconduct or deficiency by plaintiff and directly impugned his professional reputation within the SBA and USA lending community, with industry partners, and with existing and prospective referral sources."

Then, Hurn said, the company sent him a letter purporting to terminate the latest version of the consulting agreement on the basis that he supposedly violated "three generic 'essential duties' provisions" that he said he never violated at all.

"By attempting this end-run termination, defendants acted in such a way to retain the enterprise, capital, and goodwill that plaintiff had created, while avoiding the financial obligations owed to him under the amended consulting agreement, the note and his equity holdings," Hurn said.

Hurn said the companies still have neither repaid him the $800,000 owed to him for his financing efforts, though the note matured in September 2025, nor honored the promised right to convert that note into 800,000 shares at $1 per share. They also have not redeemed or repurchased the common shares he purchased, he said, despite acknowledging in negotiations that such redemption was part of his separation framework.

He also has not been paid, Hurn said, for the nine months of uncompensated work he performed from August 2023 to April 2024, his contractual monthly compensation and bonuses through the 90-day notice period outlined in the consulting agreement or his performance bonus.

As a result of the alleged misconduct, Hurn asked the court to declare his termination was without cause and that he is entitled to all unpaid compensation, bonuses and benefits due to him under the amended consulting agreement, as well as the fair-market value of his CBI common stock.

Hurn also requested that the court impose a collective trust over the companies and order a full accounting of the companies' books and records since 2023. The companies should be enjoined, he argued, from "dissipating, transferring, or encumbering" Phoenix's assets or revenues, altering or destroying any corporate or financial records related to his contract or compensation rights, issuing any statement representing that he resigned or was terminated for cause and engaging in any act that interferes with Hurn's ongoing business or professional relationships.

Additionally, Hurn is seeking damages, compensatory damages, consequential and expectancy damages, restitution and disgorgement, quantum meruit recovery equal to the value of his uncompensated services, punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest and attorney fees and costs.

Representatives for the parties did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

Hurn and Julrei Enterprises are represented by John C. Herman, Candace N. Smith and Carlton R. Jones of Herman Jones LLP and Mathew Courtney of Pino Law Group PLLC.

Counsel information for Community Bankshares Inc., Community Bank & Trust – West Georgia, Phoenix Lender Services LLC and Thomas Financial Group Inc. was not immediately available.

The case is Hurn et al. v. Community Bankshares Inc. et al., case number 1:25-CV-6840, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.