Richmond City Council candidate accused of lying about being a lawyer, relation to George Floyd

The big picture: Tavares Floyd moved to Richmond in 2020, per public records, and used to work as a liaison for Ellen Robertson, the councilwoman he's running against. She's held the 6th District seat since 2003.

• The two are also running against Willie Hilliard, a longtime Highland Park resident who owns Trent's Barbershop. He's calling on Floyd to drop out over the allegations.

Zoom in: Hilliard also wants Richmond's Inspector General to investigate Floyd's time working with City Council. Robertson didn't respond to requests for comment.

• Richmond's Inspector General didn't respond whether they planned to investigate the allegations by press time.
• The Virginia Department of Elections referred Axios to the Commonwealth's Attorney "for the jurisdiction where the case would be adjudicated."

Floyd did not give Axios any additional comments or answer whether he planned to stay in the race.

These are the major allegations and his responses so far to the Richmond Times-Dispatch and VPM, which broke the stories about Floyd in recent days.

Fake campaign donors

RTD reported that Floyd listed five campaign donors in his finance report who said they never donated. A sixth was a person who died in 1984.

• After the RTD tried contacting Floyd more than a dozen times, he sent the paper a cease-and-desist letter.

Not being licensed to practice law

VPM reported that though he received his law degree in 2016 in Tennessee, there aren't any records of him being licensed to practice law in at least 48 U.S. states or territories, including Virginia — which Axios also independently confirmed.

• "I'm a lawyer in Virginia. Get your facts right. Anybody who graduates law school & moves to anywhere is a lawyer," Floyd told VPM.
• The Virginia State Bar disagrees, per the state's Supreme Court defining "lawyer" as someone licensed or authorized to practice law.

Not being related to George Floyd

Floyd has repeatedly mentioned that he's George Floyd's cousin.

• His sister, Ashley Floyd, told RTD it's not true. A relative of George Floyd told the paper they've never heard of Tavares.
• "The last name Floyd is uncommon for African Americans. Anytime you meet a Floyd, we always get excited because we know we are related ... but you wouldn't know that," Tavares Floyd told RTD.

Where he lives

VPM also reported that the most recent addresses listed for Floyd aren't in the 6th District. One isn't even in the city.

• Court records also show that his sister tried evicting him from her Henrico home late last year. His sister told Axios that he had been living with her in Henrico up until recently.
• "I have lived in the city for a while. In the 6th district. Because you don't have my address, that's not my problem," Floyd told VPM.

Axios Richmond's Karri Peifer contributed to this report.