Some serious allegations.
Marijuana Moment have the story.
Here is the introduction.
At its core, the litigation is a fraud and legal malpractice lawsuit, but it also offers a window into the usually closed world of big marijuana business.
By Hunter Field, Arkansas Advocate
When Arkansas’s medical marijuana industry began five years ago, it was somewhat of an open secret that some of the Arkansans said to own the first dispensaries and growing facilities were fronts for out-of-state cannabis firms.
Explosive new allegations in a pair of lawsuits, if proven true, lay bare how these arrangements worked to benefit outside corporations at the expense of state investors.
That’s a big if, and the accused have called many of the allegations “blatantly false” and plan to seek dismissal of the suit.
If the suits’ claims are shown to be false, it would be the latest example of the lengths people have been willing to go to profit off the lucrative new industry.
The litigation involves several dispensaries, some of the industry’s largest power brokers, former state lawmakers, lobbyists and well-known attorneys.
At its core, the litigation is a fraud and legal malpractice lawsuit, but it also offers a window into the usually closed world of big marijuana business.
The suits accuse Little Rock law firm Steel, Wright, Gray of manufacturing local ownership groups to obtain four of the state’s first 32 medical cannabis dispensary licenses in 2019.
The local “owners” of two of those dispensaries—Enlightened Dispensary locations in Heber Springs and Morrilton—say they had little control over the businesses despite owning controlling stakes on paper. Further, they say they received little to no income from Enlightened while taking on hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax liability.
Read the full story
Arkansas Lawsuits Say Law Firm Fraudulently Obtained Marijuana Business Licenses
