Gayanga Co. announced it is shutting down and filed a defamation suit against Detroit's Office of the Inspector General over contaminated-dirt allegations. The closure was disclosed May 7. The suit names Inspector General official Kamau Marable.
Founder Brian McKinney built Gayanga over the last decade into one of the city's largest minority-owned demolition contractors. From 2019 through 2022, the City Council approved roughly $59 million in demolition contracts to the firm. Then-Council President Mary Sheffield voted to approve those contracts; her relationship with McKinney drew scrutiny in subsequent reporting.
The trigger was the contaminated-dirt allegation. The OIG accused Gayanga of using contaminated soil to backfill demolition sites in the federally funded Proposal N program. The office suspended the firm in September 2025. The suspension was lifted on March 11, 2026.
An FBI investigation is open. McKinney's statement said no investigation has resulted in findings of wrongdoing. The complaint frames the OIG's public statements as false and materially misleading and as the cause of the firm's collapse.
Proposal N is the $250 million bond residents approved in 2020 to fund residential demolitions and rehabs. Gayanga ran a meaningful share of the demolition workload. The contaminated-soil question has shadowed the program for two years across multiple contractors.
The closure leaves an open caseload of active demo sites, unfilled contracts, and a workforce. The city has not said how those sites will be reassigned. The OIG declined to comment on the litigation.
The defamation case will move on its own track. The FBI probe will move on its.
