A group of four cannabis business entities and three individual owners in Southern California were issued $128 million in civil penalties Dec. 5 after admitting to illicit operations in court, according to a summary judgement ruling.
The ruling by Judge Stephen Pfahler in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, stems from 2019 and 2020 investigations conducted by state authorities in Canoga Park, Calif. The defendants admitted to engaging in unlicensed commercial manufacturing and distributor cannabis activity on 527 separate days, according to the court ruling.
Specifically, the investigations revealed that the unlicensed activity was tied to Vertical Bliss Inc., one of the four named entities, which had held licenses for commercial cannabis manufacturing and distribution in the state at that time, according to the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC).
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