Small business owners working in the hemp industry across Kentucky felt they had an expensive uphill battle to file applications in the hopes they'd get a license. State Auditor Allison Ball said this and other complaints about influence from out-of-state companies compelled her to investigate the lottery process.
WAVE News asked Ball where her work stands, as the office of KY Gov. Andy Beshear questioned why she would comment on an ongoing investigation. Ball points to Kentucky Administrative Regulation Title 915, which deals with applying for cannabis business licenses.
Section 3 (4) prevents companies from stacking applications -- as Ball described it, creating fictitious companies with the goal of then writing out multiple requests.
"We do know that app stacking has occurred. We can say that we're pretty confident that that's happened," she said.
Ball elaborated, saying her office knows of at least one larger out-of-state company, Dark Horse Cannabis, that she said filed 350 applications through LLCs; in essence, creating companies on paper.
Read more at WAVE