DALLAS — A woman who works as a professional escort says Brad Namdar, a GOP congressional candidate and anti-human trafficking advocate, solicited sex from her on two occasions last spring.
The escort said she first met Namdar in May, as he was gearing up for his congressional run. She provided The Dallas Morning News with evidence, including videos, of the alleged sexual encounters. The News is not naming her because she fears retaliation from Namdar and his supporters.
The News also uncovered allegations through school records that Namdar inappropriately touched a student when he was a teacher and coach at a Dallas high school. Child Protective Services was notified about the alleged incident, but local law enforcement officials said they have no records of such a report.
Namdar, 33, denied all of the allegations. He said that text messages and video footage the woman provided of their alleged sexual encounters are fake and that he has been threatened in the past by people involved in trafficking.
“There’s dangerous people. They’ll manufacture things. They can make videos. They can do things that (are) pretty dangerous and since I have decided to run for Congress, it’s only increased threats I’ve received on my life,” Namdar told The News in a recent 90-minute, in-person interview.
Namdar also denied ever touching a student inappropriately and questioned the validity of public records from 2015 recounting the alleged incident.
“It’s fake, never happened,” Namdar said of the student’s allegation.
Namdar is a Dallas small-business owner who in recent years has made a name for himself as an anti-trafficking advocate. He has held trainings on how to spot and fight trafficking and joined business groups focused on the problem.
Namdar is one of six Republicans hoping to oust U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas. The 32nd Congressional District snakes from Balch Springs along Far East Dallas and up to Richardson. Parts of Dallas, Collin and Denton counties are included in the district.
In recent weeks, Namdar has distinguished himself in the crowded field by receiving endorsements from U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, the Republican who held the seat before Allred, and The Dallas Morning News editorial board.
Namdar has made trafficking a key issue in his congressional run.
Under Texas law, solicitation of prostitution is defined as knowingly offering or agreeing to pay another person for sex. Prostitution is offering or agreeing to receive money in exchange for sex. Human trafficking, by contrast, is forcing someone into prostitution or labor, or it involves a victim who is a minor.
All three are illegal.
The woman allegedly solicited by Namdar is over the age of 18 and refers to herself as an escort. She told The News she works voluntarily. The woman decided to make her allegations public after she said Namdar failed to pay her for their second sexual encounter.
During their first meeting, the woman said, Namdar talked about his advocacy work. He told her he helps trafficking victims find assistance, she said.
“He never asked, like, ‘Do you want to get out of this? Are you being forced to?’” the woman told The News. “He never asked me any questions like that.”
The woman said Namdar first contacted her via text in May 2021. At the time, she said, she advertised her services as an escort on multiple websites.
According to the woman, the two never exchanged their real names and used pseudonyms but she said she figured out who he was during her initial screening process when he sent her a photograph that matched Namdar’s Twitter avatar at the time.
The woman said they first met at a hotel in downtown Dallas on May 19 and Namdar paid her for oral sex.
They met again a few days later, she said. The woman provided videos of her having sexual intercourse with a man she said is Namdar. Both she and the man, who looks and sounds like Namdar, can clearly be seen and heard for several minutes. The videos include a date stamp of May 22.
After the encounter, the woman said, Namdar told her that he had left his cash in his car. When he went to retrieve it, he never returned, she said.
Later that day in a direct message on Twitter, the woman’s boyfriend warned Namdar about not paying and said that if he didn’t respond by noon, he would tell Namdar’s then-fiancee, according to screenshots of the alleged communications provided to The News.
The News is not naming the boyfriend because he, too, fears retaliation.
Namdar never responded to the Twitter messages, the woman and her boyfriend said, which prompted them to speak out publicly.
“This man made me feel like I was nothing,” the woman told The News in one of several interviews. “He needs to be held accountable for his actions. With that kind of platform, you cannot treat people that way. What’s done in the dark will always come out to the light.”
Namdar called the escort’s allegations false and said the video she provided was fake.
“You have me mistaken with someone else,” he said during the interview. “Never happened. It was manufactured.”
Namdar said he suspects someone involved in trafficking might be targeting him. He sent The News a text message he said showed he had received threats in the past; the sender’s information is redacted.
“It’s not a easy advocacy to get into without getting threatened,” Namdar said. “It’s sad that we live in a society where I know that people do things like make false accusations.”
The woman also provided lengthy text messages with two different phone numbers she said document her conversations with Namdar. She suspected Namdar was using temporary numbers and burner phones, she said.
Neither number could be traced to Namdar. He pointed to the difference between the phone number he used to communicate with The News and the numbers used to contact the woman as evidence that he did not send the messages.
“It is not my cellphone that I texted you with today,” he said.
Namdar said he was with a colleague on the night of May 21 and then was on the phone with that person until 1:30 a.m. The colleague said this account of the night’s events was accurate.
According to the woman, however, the second alleged sexual encounter occurred after 1:30 a.m. Namdar told The News he was in his apartment after 1:30 a.m.
The alleged sexual encounters with the woman occurred as Namdar was publicly advocating against human trafficking.
Last February, he led a training with a conservative women’s club on how to spot trafficking. In April, he moderated an anti-trafficking panel in Dallas. The morning in May before he allegedly met the escort for their second sexual encounter, he went on a Frisco podcast and discussed his advocacy work.
“Regarding human trafficking, or if anyone’s involved in it, we’re coming,” Namdar warned on the podcast.
Namdar sits on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Taskforce to Eradicate Human Trafficking. He frequently mentions that his company is certified as one of the “Texas Businesses Against Trafficking” by the secretary of state.
On his application for the program, Namdar checked boxes attesting to the fact that his company prohibits using its funds to patronize businesses that are part of the commercial sex industry, or to engage in sexual conduct that violates state or federal law.
During trainings and public appearances, Namdar points out the legal difference between prostitution and trafficking.
“So what is human trafficking?” Namdar asked the attendees of the training he hosted last February. “A lot of people think it’s prostitution. … No, it’s not.”
At least one of the websites the escort used when she said Namdar first contacted her, Megapersonals, has been tied to prostitution and trafficking. Megapersonals prohibits users from using its platform for either purpose, but the website is currently at the center of a federal case against a Texas man accused of trafficking a minor for sex across state lines.
Human trafficking involves an element of coercion and is a second-degree felony offense in Texas. If a child is involved, the penalty increases to a first-degree felony.
Although it may not involve coercion, solicitation of prostitution is also a crime. Last year, Texas was the first state to make it a felony, punishable by fines and up to two years in a state jail. The new solicitation law went into effect Sept. 1, approximately three months after the woman said Namdar first contacted her.
At the time of their alleged meetings, solicitation of prostitution was a Class A misdemeanor punishable by fines and up to a year in jail for a first offense. Prostitution is a Class B misdemeanor in Texas, punishable by fines and up to 180 days in jail.
In his interview with The News, Namdar acknowledged prostitution and trafficking are often linked. Namdar said he has never solicited anyone and called prostitution “immoral,” but expressed concern for people who sell sex because they’ve fallen on difficult times.
“People are put in tough positions, and you can’t judge everyone for tough positions in life,” he said.
Namdar urged the woman making the allegations against him to get help.
Namdar, a first-generation American and child of immigrants from Iran, was born Bardia Namdarkhan in Dallas and raised in Plano. He graduated from Southern Methodist University, where he was a kicker on the football team, with a B.A. in journalism and philosophy. He received his master’s degree in dispute resolution and conflict management, also from SMU.
Namdar started a candle-making business in his dorm room, which later expanded into a home decor company. He has also coached soccer for high school and college students.
In 2014 and 2015, Namdar worked as a teacher and soccer coach at North Dallas High School.
In October 2015, another teacher emailed school officials saying a recently graduated student had accused Namdar of touching her bottom. The incident occurred in 2014, the student told the teacher, but she did not come forward with her account until after graduation.
The News obtained a copy of the teacher’s email from the Dallas Independent School District through a public-records request.
The student “reacted to the inappropriate advance by snapping at Bardia Namdarkhan and told him, ‘(he) had better not do that ever again!’” the teacher wrote in the email, relaying the student’s story.
The student also told the teacher that Namdar once pressured her to come to the school’s locker room on a Sunday evening. When she refused, Namdar “became irritated and insisted she come,” the teacher’s email said, but the student said she refused again.
The teacher did not provide exact dates but said the alleged incident of inappropriate touching occurred when the student was under age 18. The student said she decided to tell the teacher when she did because Namdar had recently reached out to her on Facebook.
The names of the student and the reporting teacher were redacted by the district before producing the document in response to The News’ request. The News further redacted this document in an attempt to avoid disclosing identifying information.
“Since the sexual harassment was done by an educator to a student, who was 17 at the time, I feel compelled by my ethical standards, as well as state and federal law to report this to the proper authorities,” the teacher wrote in the email.
The teacher reported the alleged incident to Child Protective Services, the email added.
The Department of Family and Protective Services said it does not comment on questions about CPS reports due to privacy laws, but noted that such allegations would typically be sent to law enforcement. Dallas police and the sheriff’s office told The News that neither has a record of any such report made against Namdar.
It’s unclear whether Namdar faced any repercussions because of the allegations of inappropriate touching.
Namdar said the alleged incident with the student never happened. He said he suspected the document DISD provided, like the video, might also be “manufactured.”
Namdar questioned the legitimacy of the document and the allegation because the report was made while he was on administrative leave from the district, and he said it should have come up during conversations with school leaders. He also said it was strange that the reporting teacher called him by his legal name, Bardia Namdarkhan, which Namdar said he never uses. Namdar said he was never contacted by the district, CPS or his lawyer about the allegation and he was already working at another school when the allegation was reported.
Namdar faulted the district for not contacting him about the allegation.
“This is why our schools are failing even more, if this wasn’t followed up on,” Namdar said.
Before the student’s allegations surfaced, leadership at North Dallas High School had already attempted to fire Namdar after he clashed with the principal. According to a Law360 article about the case, Namdar called the principal, whom he wanted to be fired, “abusive.”
Namdar and his father hired a law firm and successfully fought his termination, Law360 reported.
But the firm then sued the Namdars in 2016 for $70,000 it said they owed in legal fees. The case went to court and a jury sided with the firm, awarding approximately $1.3 million. In the interview with The News, Namdar said the law firm agreed to receive a lesser fee and the jury wasn’t allowed to consider this. The Namdars appealed and lost again.
After his loss at the Dallas Court of Appeals, Namdar was quoted in Law360 as saying that “justice was not served.”
The Namdars took the case to the Texas Supreme Court, which declined to hear it in October, affirming the original judgment.
An attorney at the firm that sued the Namdars declined to comment for this story.
Namdar declined to speak about the current status of the case and said he doesn’t recall speaking with Law360. When asked whether he would pay the judgment, he said “no comment.” The News was unable to reach Namdar’s father and Namdar declined to provide any contact information.
Namdar said he was well-liked by his students and provided two positive testimonials, as well as photographs he said showed students protesting for him to be reinstated to his coaching job. The News was able to connect with the students, who confirmed they called Namdar a “great teacher, mentor and coach” and “kind (and) respectful” in their testimonials.
Namdar said he filed a grievance against the principal at the time, who Namdar said was retaliating against him. But he declined to provide that document and suggested The News file a public records request. The News filed this request but has not yet received a response.
When asked about Namdar, a spokesman for Dallas ISD said the district does not discuss personnel matters. DISD also declined to release Namdar’s employment file. Namdar ultimately resigned from his job with the district in November 2015, according to the appeals court opinion in the legal fees case.
Namdar next went to work at Mountain View, a public community college in Dallas.
But according to a footnote in that same appeals court’s opinion, Namdar was terminated from a local college “under circumstances reminiscent of his issues with DISD” during the course of the litigation. The college was not named in the opinion and The News was unable to confirm if it was Mountain View.
Namdar did not answer questions about whether or why he was terminated from Mountain View.
The Dallas College system, which counts Mountain View among its campuses, released Namdar’s employment file and confirmed he worked there from July 2015 to July 2016. But, like DISD, the system also declined to discuss personnel matters when asked whether Namdar was terminated.
Namdar faces five opponents in the Republican primary: financial consultant Nathan Davis, former Arlington City Councilman Darrell Day, real estate developer Edward Okpa, Wingstop founder Antonio Swad and Marine Corps and Navy veteran Justin Webb. The winner of the GOP primary will go up against Allred in November to represent the district, which skews Democratic.
In addition to the nod from Sessions, Namdar received endorsements from State Board of Education member Tom Maynard, a Republican, and Daphne Stanley, trustee with the Garland Independent School District. His social media is packed with pictures of him with Texas leaders.
In 2020, Gov. Greg Abbott also named Namdar to a state board overseeing grants for nonprofits. Namdar’s appointment ends in March.
At a January candidate forum in Dallas, Namdar touted his endorsements from people who understand and fight against human trafficking. He expressed his belief that the U.S. could regain its footing as an example of virtue worldwide.
“We’re the United States of America,” Namdar said. “We are the moral authority.”
Early voting in the primary election starts Monday.
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