Billionaire Beau Wrigley Faces Another Cannabis Lawsuit, This Time Worth $80M, Seeks Arbitration
Billionaire Beau Wrigley Faces Another Cannabis Lawsuit, This Time Worth $80M, Seeks Arbitration
Billionaire William "Beau" Wrigley Jr, heir to the Wrigley chewing gum fortune, has requested arbitration in a failed Parallel deal to buy six Chicago cannabis companies.
億萬富翁威廉·博瑞格利, 繼承人箭牌口香糖財富, 已要求仲裁失敗的平行交易購買六家芝加哥大麻公司.
Wrigley is already facing lawsuits over another failed deal – Parallel's initial public offering via an announced billion-dollar merger with Ceres Acquisition Corp (OTCQX:CERAF). At the time, Wrigley was the CEO of the cannabis company Parallel.
箭牌已經因另一筆失敗的交易而面臨訴訟 — 並行通過宣布與谷神收購公司（OTCQX：CERAF）進行數十億美元合併的首次公開發行。當時，箭牌是大麻公司平行的首席執行官。
The two companies confirmed in October they had terminated their business combination after months of negotiations thus ending Wrigley's plans to take his MSO public. The companies did not provide a reason for calling off the merger.
這兩家公司在十月確認，他們在經過幾個月的談判後終止了業務合併，從而結束了瑞格利公開他的 MSO 的計劃。這些公司沒有提供拒絕合併的理由。
Prior to this, in April 2021, the cannabis company agreed to acquire Windy City, an Illinois-based medical and adult-use cannabis retail brand for $100 million in cash and stock.
在此之前, 在 2021 年 4 月, 這家大麻公司同意以 1 億美元的現金和庫存收購伊利諾伊州醫療和成人用大麻零售品牌 Windy City。
About a month after Parallel and Ceres dropped the deal, Wrigley resigned as CEO of the company. Quickly after the SPAC deal failed, Parallel investors sued in Florida and New York arguing they were misled regarding the financial standing of the business, wrote Green Market Report.
大約一個月後，平行和谷神星放棄了這筆交易，瑞格利辭去了該公司的首席執行官。在 SPAC 交易失敗後很快, 並行投資者在佛羅里達州和紐約起訴爭論他們對企業的財務狀況被誤導, 寫道綠色市場報告.
Why Did The Windy City Deal Fail?
為什麼風城交易失敗？
As per the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, one of the obstacles to closing the deal is Wrigley's ownership. Even though he is no longer CEO, he is the largest shareholder in Parallel, according to the litigation. The problem is that his ownership stake involves at least one trust, which is forbidden under state regulations.
根據庫克縣巡迴法院提起的訴訟，達成交易的障礙之一是箭牌所有權。根據訴訟，儘管他不再是首席執行官，但他仍然是平行的最大股東。問題在於他的所有權至少涉及一種信託，這是根據州法規禁止的。
Furthermore, it seems Parallel has not raised enough money to finalize the deal and failed to get regulatory approvals.
此外，Parallel 似乎還沒有籌集足夠的資金來完成交易，並且未能獲得監管機構的批准。
Windy City is among a small group of businesses in Illinois with several licenses, which would enable a purchaser to step into the market with a position standing against Cresco Labs (OTCQX:CRLBF), Green Thumb Industries (OTC:GTBIF), and Verano Holdings (OTCQX:VRNOF), and others that have the maximum number of licenses legally allowed.
Windy City 是伊利諾伊州的一小群企業之一，擁有多個許可證，這將使購買者能夠進入市場，並具有反對的立場克雷斯科實驗室(OTCQX: 裂紋),綠拇指產業(OTC: GTBIF)，以及維拉諾控股(OTCQX: VRNOF)，以及合法允許擁有最大授權數量的其他人。
Wrigley is pushing to remove himself in arbitration over this broken deal by Parallel to acquire Windy City. The billionaire claims he was not a party or signatory to the purchase agreement for Chicago cannabis stores and was not acting as an agent to Parallel or a related company. "He thus is entitled to an injunction barring Defendants from maintaining arbitration proceedings against him, and a declaration that Defendants' claims against him are not arbitrable," the filing reads.
箭牌正在推動刪除自己在仲裁這個破碎的交易平行收購風城.這位億萬富翁聲稱他不是芝加哥大麻商店購買協議的一方或簽署人，並且沒有擔任 Parallel 或相關公司的代理人。文件寫道：「因此，他有權獲得禁制令，禁止被告人對他進行仲裁程序，並聲明被告人對他的索賠不可仲裁。」
"Finally, Defendants allege that Parallel is the 'alter ego' of Mr. Wrigley such that he should be personally liable for any damages arising from Defendants' claims against Parallel," according to the filing. The document also noted that Windy City's arbitration is seeking $80 million in damages.
「最後，被告人聲稱，Parallel 是瑞格利先生的 '改變自我'，因此他應該對被告人針對 Parallel 的索賠而引起的任何損害承擔個人責任，」文件。該文件還指出，風城的仲裁正在尋求 80 萬美元的賠償金。
Photo: Benzinga; Source: Shutterstock
照片：賓辛加; 資料來源：快門
譯文內容由第三人軟體翻譯。