HOUSTON – A well-known Houston food blogger says what started as a close friendship ended with tens of thousands of dollars in financial loss — and a civil court judgment he has yet to collect.

Adrian Verde, known to his more than 150,000 Instagram followers as TheHoustonFoodie , says a man he considered a friend convinced him to help with what he described as a “locked” bank account.

“It felt like betrayal, because coming from a trusted friend, you would think, Hey, he’s not going to screw me over, ” Verde said.

Verde says he met the man and the two quickly became close.

“We met at a bar just going out. We would always go out every weekend. We would go on trips together. So, over those six months, we became really good friends,” he said.

But in August 2024, Verde says the man

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