The former owners of an early Pennsylvania marijuana dispensary defrauded their partner and now owe her $24.5 million, a Philadelphia judge ruled last week.
The lawsuit alleges that the former owners of Ilera, which in 2016 became one of the first medical marijuana businesses in Pennsylvania to obtain a "super license" to both cultivate and sell cannabis, defrauded partner Shannon Hexter out of millions of dollars by persuading her to give up more than half of her stake in the company based on false financial information.
Hexter was an early partner in Ilera's operations in Pennsylvania, with a 12% equity stake in the company. The Maryland resident and graduate of Pennsylvania State University leased land in Fulton County to Ilera to cultivate cannabis through a business entity called Big Bite Real Estate LLC.
Hexter alleges in legal filings in Common Pleas Court that Ilera Healthcare's former CEO, Greg Rochlin, used credit lines from the successful medical marijuana operation in Pennsylvania to expand into Louisiana in 2018. Rochlin and other Ilera executives, including then-chief financial officer Lisa Gray, told Hexter that she didn't have a claim on the Louisiana operation, her lawyers say in legal filings. But they offered her a deal: Give up 8% of your share in the Pennsylvania company in favor of 4% in the Louisiana company.
Read more on The Philadelphia Inquirer.