Cannabis Industry Hall of Shame

The first inductees into our "Cannabis Industry Hall of Shame" are the founders of MedMen, Adam Bierman and Andrew Modlin.

MedMen fashioned itself to become the Apple of pot, the first mainstream, nationwide consumer brand for the product.

Then, it all began to unravel.

The company got hit with a class-action lawsuit from employees alleging labor law violations. Miffed investors sued the founders, accusing them of self-dealing and other underhanded tactics. A former chief financial officer filed a blockbuster complaint in a Los Angeles court accusing the founders of a slew of misdeeds, from manipulating MedMen’s stock price, to bank fraud, to seeking private intelligence groups to get dirt on their enemies, to calling an L.A. city councilman a “midget negro” and making an illegal straw man contribution to a Nevada politician.

The lawsuit alleged excessive spending as well as using company funds on the likes of a custom $160,000 Tesla SUV for Modlin, chauffeured Escalades for Bierman, chartered jets, safe rooms for its founders' homes, a $300,000 conference table, and a salary to Bierman’s marriage counselor.

The allegations in the suit also include the claim that the company would wire hundreds of thousands of public dollars to a ‘consultant’ in Canada to buy up the stock when it was "under attack."

Shortly after the company went public, both the 31-year-old Modlin and 37-year-old Bierman took millions in bonuses from the still-in-the-red company. From the day it landed on the stock market, MedMen drew derision and ire based almost entirely on the decision of its founders to lather themselves in hefty bonuses, hoard most of the voting shares, offer themselves enriching golden parachutes, and put themselves above the shareholders and the long term success of the business.

Meanwhile, Bierman and Modlin continued to profit enormously. Modlin purchased an $11 million dollar mansion, located in the same neighborhood as residences owned by celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Keanu Reeves, and next door to the estate of late comedian Rodney Dangerfield.

The home’s interior was reported to have a “resort-like master suite, dual showroom closets and disappearing walls of glass opening to the pool/spa combo and adjoining patio, a spacious lounge, gym, wine closet, and a media room with projector.”

As one investor said in a Reddit interview with Bierman, "It doesn’t sit well with investors seeing you and your partner buying 11 million dollar Beverly Hill homes next to Leo DiCaprio while the rest of us are taking huge losses."

Bierman reportedly purchased a home in trendy Marina del Rey in February, 2018 for $4.7 million.

Bierman and Modlin are now both out of MedMen. We say, good riddance. Get out and stay out of the cannabis industry. You are both a dark stain on an industry that it trying to gain acceptance into mainstream America. You have tarnished the industry while recklessly feeding your own personal greed.