The Springfield, Massachusetts City Council are investigating why a cannabis business is planning to spend $200,000 over a five-year period on a school environmental program and park in the city, hoping to determine whether the company made a deal with the mayor’s office in exchange for an operator’s license, according to a WGBH report.
The inquiry comes less than two weeks after Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia was arrested for attempting to extort at least four cannabusinesses for $250,000 each in exchange for “non-opposition letters” to operate in the city. Correia is alleged to have generated about $600,000 in the scheme.
Springfield City Council President Justin Hurst said the council was doing its “due diligence” to make sure the local government is “transparent.”
