Debra Borchardt
Damning testimony continues in the MedMen (OTC: MMNFF) trial with former Chief Financial Officer James Parker. Law360 reported that additional MedMen former employees seemed to support the allegations made by Parker with regards to illegally moving cannabis across state lines and using toxic language. Parker claims he resigned over fears of committing illegal acts and the hostile work environment. MedMen argues that Parker left on his own and broke his employment contract. Parker is asking for millions in pay and stock that he feels is owed to him.
Crossing The Line
The most serious charges revolve around the accusations that MedMen moved cannabis from California to a cultivation facility in Nevada. Crossing state lines is illegal even if a state has legalized cannabis. According to Law360, Barry Fischetto, the company’s former chief operating officer said that he told Andrew Modlin, MedMen’s co-founder, and former president, that he “wasn’t going to jail for him” when asked about potentially moving cannabis plants to Nevada, and that Modlin was not happy about his answer.
Toxic Language
The report also stated that Fischetto “told the jury he was certain MenMen’s co-founder and former CEO Adam Bierman called Parker a “pussy” when Parker raised concerns about the company potentially breaking the law by accepting credit card payments at its cannabis dispensaries.”
“I was standing right next to him,” Fischetto said. He also said he heard Modlin use the word “retard” at least “a thousand times.”
Scott Lloyd, a former recruiting director also supported Parker’s claim of offensive language by the MedMen leaders. The report read, “Lloyd told the jury about an incident he said occurred in the lobby of a San Diego hotel during an executive retreat, which was similar to Parker’s testimony. According to Lloyd, Bierman yelled in the lobby for someone to tell a gay employee to stop “fisting” his boyfriend and get down to the lobby.”
Replacement Fears
One of the reasons why Parker began to believe he was going to be fired by MedMen was that he found a $50,000 invoice for an executive search firm called Leadership Capital Partners. Parker had testified already that the invoice was purposely mislabeled so that he wouldn’t notice it. Law36 reported that on Tuesday, William Tsai of Leadership Capital Partners testified “that he was hired by MedMen in September 2018 to find a new CEO and to creatively label his invoice to hide its true nature. Under cross-examination, he said that during an interview Bierman told a recruit the job’s title was “fungible” and might not be for the CFO.”
There was also a discussion regarding the valuation of the shares that Parker is claiming to be owed. Parker thinks he should receive $7.39 million in severance pay and $17.5 million in stock.
MedMen will release its financial results for the first quarter fiscal 2022 ended September 25, 2021, after market close on Tuesday, November 9, 2021.
