SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco’s popular cannabis brand, Cookies is being accused of fraud and receiving millions in kickbacks. Multiple lawsuits were filed earlier this year.
Cookies, which was founded by Bay area rapper Berner, were accused of “self-dealing” and using the famous pot brand to “bully others into paying them millions of dollars in personal benefits and kickbacks,” according to a lawsuit filed by a group of Cookies investors in February in Los Angeles Superior Court.
In January, a lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles by a different group that accused Cookies executives of negotiating kickbacks on the sale of millions of dollars of delta-8 THC vape pens.
Berner, whose birth name is Gilbert Anthony Milam Jr, took to social media to defend himself stating in a video that lawsuits were filed by a group of “predatory investors” attempting to take his company from him. Berner is currently the CEO of Cookies.
“These guys have made extremely false, harmful, damaging claims about myself that are completely just not true. And I really look forward to the day in court that we can prove that these claims are false,” said Milam.
Berner released his first hip-hop album in 2007. By 2010, he launched his brand Cookies which is a cannabis and clothing line. The brand got its name from the Girl Scout Cookies cannabis strain which is the company’s most recognizable strain. The Cookies name has become synonymous with California’s high potency and flavorful indoor cannabis.
