Pineapple Express Cannabis Company today confirmed that rapper 2 Chainz, an investor in the company’s Hollywood cannabis dispensary, has initiated a legal action against PCI regarding his investment.
The lawsuit alleges dissatisfaction with his investment which PCI believes was heightened after seeing the dispensary temporarily closed in the last week of July and its planned closure for the entirety of August.
Company management said they are actively working to resolve this issue in private arbitration, which is allowed for in the agreement they signed with 2 Chainz’s investment group. The company also confirmed that the Pineapple Express Hollywood store is temporarily closed during the month of August due to a restructuring of ownership involving removal of a social equity partner, which PCI secured by court order.
The company said the precautionary closure was implemented to guarantee adherence to local cannabis regulations in finalizing the ownership transition. The Hollywood dispensary will be relaunching on September 1, fully compliant with local and state laws.
“While it's unfortunate that one of our celebrity investors is publicly expressing dissatisfaction, and we do not subscribe to the idea that ‘all press is good press’, we view this as an opportunity to reframe the narrative and transform this challenge into a positive outcome,” said PCI Director, Matthew Feinstein. “The temporary closure of our Hollywood dispensary that likely exacerbated the issue with our celebrity investor was a proactive step taken to ensure compliance with local regulations. We adopted this conservative approach to protect our license during the transition to a more supportive social equity partner. We see September 1st as a pivotal fresh start for Pineapple Express Hollywood.”
2 Chainz invested $1.5 million in the Pineapple Express dispensary in Hollywood and, according to a lawsuit filed earlier this month, lost almost all the money he put in due to a delayed opening.
