Cookies, among the most well-known American cannabis operators, is accused in separate lawsuits filed by current investors and a onetime business partner of using coercive “strongarm” tactics and bullying to force them to pay company executives “millions of dollars in personal benefits and kickbacks” as a cost of doing business with the brand.
The two lawsuits, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, claim Cookies President Parker Berling and other board members and executives solicited and pocketed “kickbacks” in the form of cash, jewelry and other gifts.
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This “hidden forced private tax,” in the words of one suit, is levied on anyone wishing to do business with California-based Cookies, both lawsuits allege.
Cookies’ CEO and co-founder, Gilbert Milam Jr., commonly known as Berner, is named in only one of the suits, which was filed by a pair of investors. He declined to comment to MJBizDaily.
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