NY’s $200 Million State Cannabis Fund Managers May Have Serious Financial Conflict of Interest11/20/2022
New York state has a state-run Social Equity Cannabis Investment Fund, which will pay for the buildout of New York’s first 150 retail dispensaries. Back in June, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that part of the team to manage that would include NBA Hall of Famer Chris Webber and entrepreneur Lavetta Willis. NY Cannabis Insider has recently reported that these two people may actually hold significant conflicts of interest. Both Webber and Willis have strong financial ties to the major global cannabis brand Cookies, including a partnership between Webber, Willis and Cookies U on a $50 million cannabis training facility in Detroit, in addition to a deal in which Cookies dispensaries in Michigan will carry the duo’s Players Only branded weed. Last month, Cookies opened it’s first location in New York City, which at this time is only selling branded merchandise, not cannabis. Once the adult use market officially openes, Cookies is fully expected to enter the market and begin selling cannabis, too. With Webber and Willis on this management team, they are basically tasked with raising funds for dispensaries that will end up competing with Cookies, and thus their own financial interests. NY Cannabis Insider spoke to Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia University Law School, said, “I think it’s a problem.” He added that he couldn’t say whether the business relationship is legally prohibited, but that it is still “a problem.” No comments have been made yet by the state representatives on this matter.
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