Brian McKinney is the Detroit native who founded Gayanga Co., a demolition contractor that grew into one of the city’s largest recipients of blight-removal contracts before collapsing in 2026 amid allegations it used contaminated dirt to backfill hundreds of residential lots. McKinney shut Gayanga down on May 7, 2026 and, on the same day, filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Detroit’s Office of Inspector General.1Detroit Free Press. Gayanga Demolition Contractor Detroit Shutting Down, Suing City An FBI investigation into the company is open. No criminal charges have been filed against him.
Who Brian McKinney Is
McKinney is a Detroit native who worked as a partner at a construction engineering firm in Houston and had a background in software development before returning to the city.2CONEXPO-CON/AGG. Unconventional Recruiting Helps Detroit Demolition After attending a minority contractor fair, he founded Gayanga in November 2016, and the company was fully operational by September 2017. The name comes from Gaspar Yanga, a sixteenth-century leader of a colony of escaped enslaved people in Mexico.
Gayanga’s rise was fast. City demolition contracts went from $417,000 in 2017 to between $7 million and $9 million per year from 2018 through 2020, then jumped to $23 million in 2021 and $28.5 million in 2022.3Detroit Free Press. Detroit Upholds Suspension of Demolition Contractor Gayanga Co In total, the company was awarded more than $67 million in city contracts. Then-Mayor Mike Duggan publicly praised Gayanga as the type of minority-owned, Detroit-based firm the city should prioritize.4Detroit Free Press. Timeline: Toxic Dirt at Detroit Demolition Sites McKinney built a workforce that was roughly 85 percent Detroit residents and 90 percent African American or Hispanic, and started a pre-apprenticeship program in the skilled trades.2CONEXPO-CON/AGG. Unconventional Recruiting Helps Detroit Demolition
The Contaminated Dirt Allegations
In June 2025, Detroit’s Office of Inspector General opened an investigation into McKinney and Gayanga over backfill used at residential demolition sites.5City of Detroit Office of Inspector General. Gayanga Investigation Press Release The OIG alleged the dirt used to fill holes left by demolished homes contained arsenic, lead, chromium, and other toxic chemicals at levels above Michigan’s residential environmental standards.6FOX 2 Detroit. Contaminated Dirt in Detroit at Heart of $100M Lawsuit Some material was traced to the former Northland Mall redevelopment site in Southfield.7Bridge Detroit. Suspension Upheld for Prominent Detroit Demolition Contractor
Testing produced striking numbers. According to the OIG, 42 of 47 tested sites exceeded state pollution standards, and 62 percent of those were deemed “unsafe for direct human contact.”7Bridge Detroit. Suspension Upheld for Prominent Detroit Demolition Contractor Inspector General Kamau Marable said information Gayanga provided about the sources of its backfill was incorrect and that the system relied on self-reporting and an “honor system.” By late December 2025, city officials said 87 sites were specifically linked to Gayanga, part of a broader universe of more than 500 potentially affected lots that later grew to more than 650 as testing continued.4Detroit Free Press. Timeline: Toxic Dirt at Detroit Demolition Sites
An earlier OIG investigation into Gayanga, completed in September 2023, had found no evidence to substantiate similar backfill fraud allegations. That probe reviewed nearly 1,300 load tickets and concluded that although roughly 1.7 percent were inaccurate or incomplete, the deficiencies did not amount to fraud.8City of Detroit Office of Inspector General. OIG Investigation Report, File No. 22-0018-INV
Suspension and the Collapse of Gayanga
On September 11, 2025, the OIG issued a 90-day temporary suspension barring McKinney and Gayanga from city contracting, pending a debarment decision.5City of Detroit Office of Inspector General. Gayanga Investigation Press Release McKinney’s attorneys at Perkins Law Group and Dickinson Wright argued Gayanga had sourced backfill from city-approved vendors, naming Iron Horse specifically, and that the city was responsible for approving those sources.7Bridge Detroit. Suspension Upheld for Prominent Detroit Demolition Contractor Iron Horse, a Milford Township excavation firm that had been approved as a city dirt supplier, was itself suspended in November 2025 after elevated contaminant levels were found at sites it serviced; the company had supplied 424 sites for four contractors between July 2024 and November 2025.9Detroit News. Detroit Investigating Scope of Contaminated Dirt at Demo Sites
The Detroit City Council voted 9-0 on November 18, 2025 to uphold Gayanga’s suspension.3Detroit Free Press. Detroit Upholds Suspension of Demolition Contractor Gayanga Co At the same hearing, dozens of subcontractors said Gayanga owed them millions of dollars in unpaid work. Among the individual claims: Valley Transport, nearly $700,000; City Abatement Services, $611,000; Detroit Environmental Solutions, $350,000; A&E Concrete, $285,000; and G and M Contracting, $274,000. Attorney Michael Leavitt, representing multiple subcontractors, said Gayanga collectively owed vendors more than $1 million and alleged the city approved nearly $70 million in contracts to a company that was not maintaining required performance and payment bonds.10Michigan Chronicle. Detroit Council Upholds Suspension of Demolition Contractor
Under Detroit’s debarment ordinance, suspensions cap at 180 days, so the suspension lifted on March 11, 2026 without a final debarment ruling.1Detroit Free Press. Gayanga Demolition Contractor Detroit Shutting Down, Suing City By that point the damage to the business was done. Gayanga closed on May 7, 2026.
McKinney’s $100 Million Lawsuit
The same day he shut down Gayanga, McKinney filed a defamation lawsuit against Detroit’s Office of Inspector General and Kamau Marable individually. The complaint alleges the defendants made “false and materially misleading public statements” portraying McKinney and the company as “responsible for widespread environmental contamination in the City of Detroit,” and that those statements destroyed the business.1Detroit Free Press. Gayanga Demolition Contractor Detroit Shutting Down, Suing City The suit seeks $100 million and characterizes McKinney as a “fall guy” for systemic failures in the city’s oversight of its demolition program.6FOX 2 Detroit. Contaminated Dirt in Detroit at Heart of $100M Lawsuit
His attorney, Todd Perkins, has said the company “did not do anything wrong” and used dirt from sources the city itself approved.6FOX 2 Detroit. Contaminated Dirt in Detroit at Heart of $100M Lawsuit McKinney also claims the OIG referred the matter to police without interviewing Gayanga’s contractors, truckers, or other parties directly involved.1Detroit Free Press. Gayanga Demolition Contractor Detroit Shutting Down, Suing City The city has declined to comment on the pending litigation but has said it intends to pursue cost-recovery actions against Gayanga, while acknowledging the company has a “long list of creditors.”11Bridge Detroit. Detroit to Pay $52K to Fix Soil Contamination at One Demo Site
The FBI Investigation
The Detroit Police Department opened a fraud investigation into Gayanga in September 2025, focused on whether the company misrepresented soil sources on load tickets.12Detroit Free Press. FBI Detroit Dirty Dirt Demolition Contractor Investigation During that phase, authorities executed 13 search warrants and seized a laptop, a cell phone, and hundreds of records from the company. Police consulted the FBI in November 2025 and formally transferred the case in February 2026. As of late April 2026, a Gayanga spokesman said the FBI had not contacted McKinney or any company personnel, and the bureau’s Detroit field office declined to comment. No criminal charges have been filed.
The Mary Sheffield Relationship
In November 2025, reporting revealed that McKinney had been in a romantic relationship with Mary Sheffield, then the Detroit City Council President Pro Tempore. Sheffield’s office confirmed the relationship occurred in 2019 but declined to specify when it started or ended.13Detroit Free Press. Mary Sheffield McKinney Controversy and Detroit Ethics System
In April 2019, Sheffield had sought guidance from the Detroit Board of Ethics, which advised her that she was not required to disclose the relationship because the city’s ethics ordinance only required disclosure for familial, spousal, or domestic partnerships. The board counseled her to “exercise caution” and “remain independent.”14Bridge Detroit. Sheffield Ethics and Contractor Votes Sheffield went on to vote to approve $4.4 million in Gayanga contracts in 2019 and at least $54.6 million more between 2020 and 2022. McKinney also contributed over $13,000 to Sheffield’s mayoral campaign and a supporting political action committee; her campaign returned at least one donation after his suspension.13Detroit Free Press. Mary Sheffield McKinney Controversy and Detroit Ethics System Sheffield faced no formal ethics investigation and became mayor of Detroit in January 2026.
What Remains Unresolved
The cleanup tied to Gayanga’s work is still expanding. Duggan initially estimated remediation costs at $8 million; by June 2026 the figure had tripled to $27 million, with 80 percent of completed tested sites exceeding state contamination limits.15Planet Detroit. Detroit Toxic Dirt Cleanup Costs Reach $27 Million Recovery from responsible parties looks uncertain: Gayanga is shut, and Iron Horse has sold its Milford Township property. As of June 2026 the city had not filed suit to recoup those costs, though it had approved a $52,000 contract to remediate a single site.11Bridge Detroit. Detroit to Pay $52K to Fix Soil Contamination at One Demo Site
McKinney’s $100 million lawsuit is pending. The FBI investigation is open with no charges. And more than 650 sites tied to Detroit’s demolition program remain in various stages of testing and remediation.