Tilray (NASDAQ: TLRY) is being sued for $300 million in Florida over an alleged scheme to bankrupt soap company Trimax in hopes of acquiring one of its subsidiaries for pennies on the dollar. Specifically, Trimax says Tilray hoped to acquire the soap company’s CBD product line and distribution channels, which include major retailers like Walmart, according to Bloomberg.
According to the lawsuit, Tilray’s parent company Privateer Holdings attempted to convince Trimax’s owners to bankrupt their own company.
Trimax shareholders are seeking damages of $150 million and another $150 million in punitive damages. The lawsuit was first filed on December 2 but later moved on to the federal court.
BC-based Tilray has a current market cap of $1.8 billion, Warrior Trading News reports, although its share prices have been steadily dropping throughout the year and the company has lost about 80 percent of its market cap since the beginning of the year.
This is not the first case of alleged corporate wrongdoing by one of Canada’s licensed cannabis producers — one year ago, Canadian LP Aphria faced accusations by a known short seller of playing a shell game with shareholders, which led to a crash in stock prices and, eventually, an attempted hostile takeover by a U.S. firm. Aphria’s CEO and co-founder stepped down about a month later.
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