Colorado-based marijuana operator Green Dragon is calling it quits.
The company notified the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment last week that it plans to lay off all 59 employees at the 92,000-square-foot grow facility in Denver it’s shuttering by the end of the year.
Green Dragon said it plans to close all 17 of its retail locations in Colorado by then, too, Cory Azzalino, CEO of Green Dragon’s parent company, Eaze, told Denver-based BusinessDen.
The company also intends to close a 400,000-square-foot medical marijuana grow in Florida and 39 dispensaries in that state.
Green Dragon and California-based Eaze, which purchased Green Dragon about three years ago, recently were acquired by a group involving billionaire Jim Clark, founder of the defunct tech firm Netscape.
Clark foreclosed on Eaze in May after the delivery company defaulted on a 2022 loan of $36.9 million.
Then, in August, Clark’s holding company, FoundersJT acquired all of Eaze’s assets in an auction for $56 million.
Green Dragon’s former owners – Lisa Leder, Andrew Levine and Alex Levine – filed a lawsuit in July 2023 alleging that Eaze defrauded investors, was “close to insolvency” and was operating unlawfully.
The case was dismissed a few months later, according to BusinessDen.
At the time, Azzalino said the company was “in a healthy financial position” and operating lawfully.
Levine filed another lawsuit against Eaze on Aug. 6 to investigate whether Clark and board member Thomas Jermoluk conspired to acquire the company’s assets at below market value, Law360 reported.
Green Dragon faced issues in 2022 with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 union, which led a picket line of former cultivation workers outside its Denver grow facility.
The employees alleged the facility was unsafe and an unhealthy workplace because of mold issues. The staff also complained about low wages.
H/T: mjbizdaily.com
