The Rev. Delman Coates, senior pastor of Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton, Maryland, has sued the estate of a Rhode Island attorney and others, alleging he was defrauded of millions of dollars in a real estate lending scheme. When asked about the lawsuit on Tuesday, Mt. Ennon Baptist Church directed questions to Coates' attorney, while noting that it "is a personal matter for Dr. Coates. Mt.
Ennon Baptist Church is not involved in this matter in any way." In his 18-count, 24-page lawsuit filed last month in Kent County Superior Court, Coates accuses the late Rhode Island attorney, Ronald W. Dunbar Jr., and other defendants of a slew of crimes. “This is an action to recover the fruits of a lending fraud designed and operated by an attorney.
Between December 2024 and April 2025, Plaintiff Delman Coates advanced no less than $2,850,000 in loans that Attorney Ronald W. Dunbar, Jr. proposed, structured, drafted, personally guaranteed, and serviced through his law firm’s client trust account,” Coates’ attorneys argued. “On November 14, 2025, Attorney Dunbar computed in writing that he owed Plaintiff $4,442,877.18. On April 10, 2026, he promised in writing that if sued he would assert no defenses and would agree to immediate judgment for the full amount owed.
He paid only $400,000 of it, in three unallocated wires in 2026, and he died on July 28, 2026.” In addition to Dunbar's estate, Coates’ lawsuit also names as defendants real estate development and property holding company Five Five Plus, LLC, Dunbar Law PC, Joseph Riley, Jennifer Riley, Jeffry Pike and Brian Tischler.
The lawsuit states that Coates was introduced to Dunbar in 2024 by Massachusetts developer Richard Egan, who vouched for the late attorney and stated that he was seeking bridge funding for a personal injury client.