Unlikely Heroes Acquired by Private Family Foundation Through Bankruptcy

Foundation claims anti-trafficking group misrepresented its use of a $100K grant

After years of legal wrangling, a foundation has successfully acquired the assets of Unlikely Heroes, an anti-trafficking group that filed for bankruptcy, thus ending the operations of the group the foundation claimed misrepresented its operations.

Erica Hazlett (formerly Erica Greve) giving a 2019 Ted Talk as then-head of Unlikely Heroes / Video screenshot

In 2021, the Human Investment Foundation (HIF), a Dallas-based private family foundation focused on sexual violence education and prevention, filed a lawsuit in Tarrant County, Texas, against Unlikely Heroes and its founder and president Erica Greve to revoke more than $100,000 it had donated to the organization.

The lawsuit alleged that Greve had misrepresented that Unlikely Heroes owned and operated multiple restoration homes in the United States and abroad at which she planned to use Elevate Academy’s online course material. Elevate Academy describes itself as “the largest online program for survivors of human trafficking in the world.”

HIF agreed to fund the use of the Academy’s materials through a restricted grant of $100,000.

However, Elevate terminated its agreement with Unlikely Heroes, “because of its concerns with Unlikely Heroes’ internal and external accounting procedures, lack of financial oversight, failure to provide financial reporting, lack of proof of ownership of international homes, lack of governance to support and implement best practices for non-profit organizations, lack of transparency, and Unlikely Heroes’ sensational approach to external messaging on the issue of human trafficking,” the lawsuit stated.

Unlikely Heroes also failed to provide the required quarterly reports and financial information to HIF as required under the $100,000 restricted grant. It offered to make its financials available if HIF agreed to sign a nondisclosure agreement, the lawsuit alleged.

In 2022, Greve filed a countersuit against HIF asserting claims such as business disparagement and commercial defamation. HIF filed a motion to dismiss Greve’s claims under the Texas Citizen’s Participation Act, the state’s version of an anti-SLAPP law — protecting a person’s rights to associate, petition, or speak on matters of public concern “from retaliatory lawsuits that seek to intimidate or silence them.”

The Texas judge granted HIF’s motion to dismiss, but before an award could be made, Unlikely Heroes filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in California — an action that stayed the civil case in Texas. Some of the documents filed in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy revealed that the entire board of Unlikely Heroes had resigned in June 2022, save Greve.

After it was determined that Chapter 11 was the improper filing and was dismissed by the bankruptcy court, the Texas court held a hearing and awarded $133,366.50 for reasonable attorney’s fees to HIF against Unlikely Heroes.

None of HIF’s claims against Unlikely Heroes were adjudicated at that time, and in January 2023 Greve filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy as Unlikely Heroes’ president, which again stayed the Texas case.

After many motions were filed by Greve and disposed of by the court, the court approved a settlement between the Human Interest Foundation and the bankruptcy estate on September 5, 2025.

HIF will pay $20,000 to the bankruptcy estate in exchange for all claims that Unlikely Heroes has against HIF, allowing HIF to move to dismiss the remaining claims in the Texas case.

HIF will also acquire all intellectual property of Unlikely Heroes, including its social media, donor lists, and trademarks.

In a news release about the potential acquisition of Unlikely Heroes by HIF, Greve wrote that HIF was poised to acquire the “nonprofit’s identity and gain access to private records of children who experienced severe trauma and received services through Unlikely Heroes’ programs.”

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She filed a motion to stop the proposed agreement from being approved, but the court ruled against her motion.

The agreement excludes from the purchased assets any sensitive information that could personally identify victims of human trafficking.

When asked why HIF spent so much time, energy, and money to engage in this long-running legal matter, HIF’s attorney Michael Barbee said, “We want to protect the public and support genuine anti-trafficking organizations by keeping donations out of the hands of groups that don’t use them properly.”

Greve, who is now Erica Hazlett, has founded a new group, Future Voices Global, with her husband Bob. It claims to have a “restoration home for children recovering from human trafficking in the Philippines, and Erica oversees many anti-trafficking initiatives that help to recover and restore child victims of exploitation.”

Future Voices Global is listed as a missions arm of Ascend Ministries, the “prophetic ministry” of Bob Hazlett.

MAIN PHOTO: Erica Hazlett (formerly Erica Greve) giving a 2019 Ted Talk as then-head of Unlikely Heroes / Video screenshot

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