On Feb. 6, a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Georgia by resident Hannah Ledbetter against 12 cannabis companies. The claim alleges that all of the companies mentioned have sold cannabis products as delta hemp products instead of cannabis products and is asking for a total of $150 million. The companies listed include STIIIZY, LLC; Cookies Creative Consulting and Promotions; Cloud 9 Online Smoke & Vape, LLC; Green Rush LLC dba Xhale City; TheSY LLC dba Element Vape; Savage Enterprises; Delta Extrax; L&K Distribution; Columbia Laboratories; PharmLabs; Encore; and Pur ISO Labs LLC.

The plaintiff claims she was deceived by the companies into buying federally illegal products that were being sold as federally legal hemp products (with 0.9% THC or less). “Defendants have conspired to import, manufacture, distribute, and possess illegal (delta-8) THC vape pens that are marijuana,” the lawsuit stated. “This scheme could only be accomplished through a pattern of racketeering activity.”

According to Justia, a “racket” refers to a single fraudulent service, while “racketeering” defines multiple illegal activities, usually done collaboratively through a group via organized crime. The Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act describes racketeering activity with crimes such as fraudulent offenses, murder, kidnapping, drug trafficking, bribery, and more. 

Ledbetter purchased delta-9 THC products from Cloud 9, Element, Xhale City and/or Xhale Franchise locations in and near Atlanta, Georgia. She alleges that the products contained far more than what is legally acceptable by law. The lawsuit claims that all cannabis companies named “have facilitated the manufacturing, distribution, and/or sale of illegal marijuana to thousands of people over the course of the last four years.”

Ultimately, the lawsuit summarizes its accusation. “In essence, [customers of the defendants] are paying for legal hemp-derived THC but are receiving illegal marijuana, which has created millions of dollars of fraudulent profit,” it stated.

Ledbetter’s team is accusing the defendants of finding third party testing labs Columbia Laboratories in Oregon, and Encore and Pharmalabs SD in California, that would issue false certificates of analysis for the five products. Results showed that “the hemp-derived D9 variance levels that was in excess of the legal limit” included hemp-based vape pens with the following strains: Cookies’ Huckleberry “Gelaot” (assumedly Gelato but there is a typo in the lawsuit text), Extrax’s Forbidden Jelly and Power Plant, Looper’s Blue Gusherz, and STIIIZY Hemp’s OG Kush.

“To facilitate this fraud, the Lab Defendants knowingly created false test results that were advertised over the internet hundreds of times for publication and marketing through the wires, and such activity is wire fraud,” the lawsuit continued.

According to an article published by Green Market Report, a STIIIZY spokesperson said in an email statement that the lawsuit “contains absolutely no factual evidence to support its conclusory and baseless claims against STIIIZY. We intend to defend ourselves vigorously against this meritless lawsuit and seek to have it dismissed since it has no factual basis.” At the time of publishing, Cookies and other defendants had not yet provided a statement.

The lawsuit calls on the court to determine it as a class action lawsuit, which must first be granted by a federal judge. RICO lawsuits state that plaintiffs are entitled to three times the listed damages, and this lawsuit requests $50 million for damages, referencing “treble” damages, which means that a successful lawsuit could lead to the plaintiff receiving up to $150 million.

A similar lawsuit was filed in California last summer between the state of California and nine individual cannabis companies based in California, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, or Wyoming. The lawsuit claimed that cannabis products should include a Proposition 65 warning label on delta-9 THC cannabis products, because it is “known to cause harm to the developing fetus.”

According to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the potential dangers of illegal hemp products should be addressed. “I want to be clear: The sales of industrial hemp products that do not comply with California law, and the illegal sale of inhalable hemp in California will not be tolerated,” said Bonta. “The dangers of these products must be communicated for sale to the public, and the sale of all industrial hemp inhalable products must cease altogether. The California Department of Justice will continue to protect the legitimate businesses who are operating responsibly in this space. There is no room for illegal inhalable hemp products in our state.”

The rise in hemp-derived cannabis products began after the 2018 Farm Bill was passed. It authorized the use and sale of hemp-based products, mainly CBD. Since then, many state legislators have introduced bills to regulate such products. One of the latest examples of this was seen in Missouri last December, when Sen. Nick Schroer introduced Senate Bill 984, also titled the “Intoxicating Cannabinoid Control Act.” If passed, the bill would regulate delta-8 THC products as cannabis, not hemp. The most current action for SB-984 includes Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee hearing held on Feb. 12.

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Thursday evening, Donald Trump’s mug shot was released to the public after he was booked at an Atlanta, Georgia jail on more than a dozen felony charges. The jail that booked him, Fulton County Jail, has a long rap sheet of smuggled drugs, constant violence, and notorious murderers and serial killers through the decades.

ABC 7 reports that Trump’s mug shot was a historic first: the first former U.S. president to have his mug shot taken. (Nixon came close but was given a full and unconditional pardon by Gerald Ford on September 8, 1974.)

It’s the culmination of a wide-ranging criminal case surrounding the former U.S. president’s alleged attempts to overturn his 2020 election, particularly in Georgia which was vital to win the votes needed.

Trump—aka inmate No. P01135809 according to Fulton County Jail records—was photographed with a stern look and the photo instantly went viral. Eighteen other defendants are facing charges for their alleged roles in overturning the 2020 election. Trump was indicted four times this year, but this is the first time he’s facing RICO charges and the first time his mug shot has been taken.

District Attorney Fani Willis oversaw the investigation and the racketeering charges against Trump and 18 co-defendants. Others include Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani and chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Thursday also marked Trump’s less triumphant return to X, formerly known as Twitter, where he posted his own mug shot along with the message in all caps: “ELECTION INTERFERENCE. NEVER SURRENDER!”

Trump only spent around 20 minutes at the Fulton County Jail, however, before returning to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to fly back to Bedminster, New Jersey. 

For most other inmates at the jail, many on drug-related charges, the realities are a lot harsher with hard time. RICO or racketeering charges are among the most severe. In the cannabis world, RICO charges have been used for and against numerous cannabis companies. Cases against state-legal cannabis activities are based on the allegation that such activities violated the federal Controlled Substances Act and thereby satisfied the predicate act requirement under RICO, the firm Duane Morris explains.

Fulton County Jail and its History of Drugs

Some people speculate how easy it is to obtain drugs in jail. The “never-ending drug hustle behind bars” never stops at jails in America, wrote Olivia Fields of The Marshall Project. It’s one of the core reasons the War on Drugs failed.

Fulton County Jail is also plagued with insider drug trade. Other inmates at Fulton County apparently had access to weed, cigarettes, and drugs, which were being smuggled in by at least one prison contractor.

Fox 5 reported on June 22, 2022 that TreQuera Lashell Ford was a contracted medical assistant for the Fulton County Jail who was arrested for smuggling pot into the jail. Officials said Ford was stopped on May 14, 2022 because she smelled like weed, and admitted to smoking in her car before coming to work. 

Police began to routinely search her bag and she panicked, grabbed her keys and ran, walked through the parking lot, jumped in her car and left. Deputies reportedly found 6.8 ounces of cannabis, 20 grams of crack cocaine, 200 cigarettes, and loose tobacco.

“Let me be clear, if you attempt to smuggle anything into the Fulton County Jail, you will be caught, and you will be arrested,” Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat said. “Our deputies and investigators worked relentlessly to bring this fugitive to justice.”

Police didn’t stop there: They tapped her phone and recorded conversations proving she was smuggling drugs into the jail. Ford was contracted to work at the jail for only a few months before she was busted.

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office said an extensive search spanning multiple jurisdictions finally found her and arrested her in Grenada, Mississippi. 

Fulton County Jail and Violence

USA Today reports that the jail has been built a total of four times, and the first opened in 1904, and was rebuilt as Atlanta City Jail on Peachtree Street in 1927. In 1961, a third facility was built on Jefferson Street.

Ten years later, the Jefferson Street jail was home to the 1971 riots. In 1971, inmates at the jail protested poor living conditions and overcrowding, erupting in a riot that led to extensive property damage and injuries. (The same year the larger Attica Prison riot in New York turned out to be worse.)

In 1984, voters approved a $44.3 million bond for a new county jail, running a tab of upwards of $50 million, and that’s the modern facility that Trump was booked into.

Producer-turned-murderer Phil Spector and serial killer Wayne Williams also did time at Fulton County. Trump, however, is probably the most high profile figure to be booked at Fulton County.

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Approaching new levels of snitchery, a next door neighbor in Oklahoma filed a complaint under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act—the worst type of lawsuit—after they accused a cannabis farm of growing too close to the property line.

Keith and Stephanie Grant filed a complaint, Grant et al v. Flying Bud Farms, LLC et al, in the Northern District of Oklahoma against Flying Bud Farms, LLC and numerous companies associated with Flying Bud Farms for allegedly growing, distributing and selling cannabis illegally.

Per the complaint, The Grants live in rural Oklahoma next door to defendant Gary Bacon Jr.’s property. In 2019, Bacon launched Flying Bud Farms with co-defendant Derek Wachob to grow cannabis and supply local dispensaries including for their own D-Luxe Dispensary.

While the complaint admits that the cannabis was grown “approximately less than 50 feet from the Grants’ property line,” it claims the Grants were forced to live “in the constant presence of an openly operating unlawful marijuana cultivation and distribution enterprise and a construction zone” which made it impossible for them to “enjoy” their home. 

Practically everything about the cannabis operation bothered the next door neighbors. The Grants claim that they can’t enjoy their home because of bright lights at night, noisey industrial fans, alterations of the floodplain that allegedly caused flooding on the Grants’ property, helicopter noises and the trademark odor of cannabis that they say have been a constant nuisance. 

Federal racketeering charges are nothing to laugh about. RICO lawsuits are the government’s “most powerful tool” in combating criminal organizations, New York Times reports. They are typically reserved for organized crime. RICO suits illustrate the scope of punishment the law can reach—think triple or more the cost in damages and attorneys’ fees. It can quickly sink a business.

Racketeering charges under RICO have been tested previously in several other similar cannabis-related cases, but typically have not succeeded. This happens ever since a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in June 2017 in Colorado when it was ruled that it was “reasonable to infer” that a potential home buyer would be less inclined to purchase land adjacent to a grow in the case of Safe Streets Alliance v. Alternative Holistic Healing, LLC. RICO lawsuits have a tendency to lead to massive settlement agreements.

The Grants claim that the business is illegal based on federal law. But Flying Bud Farms is listed by the Oklahoma government under the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) as a licensed grower as of December 15, 2021. As Oklahoma has no caps on medical cannabis licenses, there is a high number of legal operations. With the influx of medical cannabis operations, some neighbors are panicking.

They also claim that Flying Buds Farms is located on property owned by Bacon’s stepmother, and that the defendants did not receive permits from the State Fire Marshall or the Creek County Floodplain Management Board for the construction of their facilities.

The plaintiffs are suing on the counts of a violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1962(C) and (D), nuisance, and injury to property. Law Street Media reports that the Grants are seeking “injunctive relief enjoining the defendants from further unlawful racketeering activities, three times their damages caused by the racketeering activities, compensatory damages, abatement of nuisances, disgorgement, attorney’s fees and costs, and other relief.”

The plaintiffs are represented by GableGotwals, a law firm based in Tulsa.

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