Beverly Hills attorney Jeffrey Jensen and his team of cannabis industry colleagues have filed yet another lawsuit against the state of New York, claiming this time that one of his companies – which previously won a cannabis retail permit through earlier litigation – lost out on $375,000 in the resale of its permit due to regulatory foot-dragging.
Jensen – who has filed suit several times in states across the country, repeatedly targeting marijuana industry social equity programs – filed a new claim in the New York State Court of Claims against the state’s Office of Cannabis Management, on behalf of his firm Variscite NY One, MJBizDaily reported.
The same company sued the agency in 2022 and stalled retail cannabis licensing for months in several parts of the state, until regulators caved and granted Jensen a permit as part of a settlement deal. Jensen sued New York again a year ago, on behalf of Variscites Four and Five, two other business entities that he began with partners separate from the plaintiffs involved with Variscite NY One.
According to the most recent legal action, Variscite NY One and its owners – Jensen, Christian Kerncamp, Alex Cherney and Kenneth Gay – “reached an agreement to sell Variscite’s shares” for $1.025 million with a dispensary site in Mount Vernon after they had won the permit in 2023.
But at the time, the OCM had not yet opened an online portal for would-be retailers to submit their locations in order to obtain “proximity protection,” because state law mandates no two dispensaries will be located within 2,000 feet of each other. That led to a competitor finding a location within the so-called “buffer zone” around Variscite’s location, and the OCM denied Variscite’s application for that site.
That caused the proposed sale of Variscite’s license to fall through, and the stakeholders wound up selling for only $650,000, which was $375,000 less than they could have received.
“OCM harmed Variscite’s owners by causing them to sell the shares of Variscite for a reduced amount,” the claim asserts.
variscite-1 The latest lawsuit targets OCM delays in granting proximity protection, which allegedly cost the license owners $375,000. Read More
