The Sac Bee follows up its report of earlier in the week with this. Indicted Ukrainian gained solid foothold in Sacramento pot world. Mayor wants new audit…
Addendum 25 February 2021
CLR was forwarded the following email from Kukushkin’s lawyers which we reprint in full for people to read before they read the story originally published by the Sac Bee
This law office has been retained to represent Garib Karapetyan regarding the following link:
https://cannabislaw.report/sacramento-ukrainian-cannabis-connections-deepen-mayor-wants-audit/
This article discusses, among other issues, an alleged monopoly in the Sacramento cannabis market, which is not allowed by the City’s cannabis charter. The City of Sacramento investigated, found no wrongdoing, and renewed all of Mr. Karapetyan’s cannabis licenses. Mr. Karapetyan also has no involvement in any alleged crimes committed by Andrey Kukushkin.
The continuing online presence of this post is causing Mr. Karapetyan and his company financial and reputational harm. Potential and current business partners, financial backers, and clients have mentioned the negative publicity.
We would therefore like to request, as a courtesy to Mr. Karapetyan, that you consider removing or de-indexing this link.
Breana Frankel
The Law Offices of Breana Frankel
28202 Cabot Road Suite 300
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
(949) 340-7450
[email protected]
Andrey Kukushkin, the Ukrainian-born businessman who was arrested in the campaign-finance scandal tied to President Donald Trump’s attorney, has established a significant foothold in Sacramento’s legal cannabis industry, new records reviewed by The Sacramento Bee show.
Now Kukushkin’s involvement — along with a looming FBI investigation into potential corruption and The Bee’s reporting on consolidation of the industry — is causing turmoil in the Sacramento pot industry.
On Tuesday Mayor Darrell Steinberg called for top city staffers to “urgently” examine the city’s permitting process that allowed one investor, Garib Karapetyan, to gain control of nearly one third of the city’s 30 coveted retail pot permits. The mayor also said he wants the City Council to consider an ordinance to “at a minimum temporarily prohibit ownership transfers of our cannabis dispensaries while we audit and examine our processes.”
Citing The Bee’s reporting, he said: “The goal of our cannabis permitting process was to protect consumers and operate a well-regulated and safe legal cannabis industry for the benefit of our city. These stories raise serious questions about whether our rules, as currently written, are accomplishing that goal.”
He asked City Auditor Jorge Oseguera to examine whether permitting rules should be changed “to safeguard against over-concentration of permits with one individual or group.” The auditor’s office will comply with the request, and will provide a report in the coming weeks, Oseguera said.
Steinberg’s request, at an afternoon City Council meeting, comes only two years after a city audit found significant problems with Sacramento’s marijuana licensing system. The audit found that some dispensaries had failed to provide the city with financial and membership documents and may have been under-reported their sales.
The presence of Kukushkin adds another twist to the drama that’s suddenly gripped the city’s pot business.
As the Sacramento Bee reported Sunday, Kukushkin is an officer and permit holder in a Fruitridge Road retail pot dispensary, Twelve Hour Care or THC. That shop is controlled by Karapetyan, a Sacramento man who’s the permit holder on eight of Sacramento’s 30 retail pot storefronts and is the undisputed leader in the city’s marijuana industry.
City officials are laboring to understand how Karapetyan could accumulate so many storefronts in spite of a city ordinance designed to discourage consolidation.
Separately, The Bee has reported that the FBI is investigating whether any Sacramento pot business owners bribed public officials to gain favorable treatment on licensing or other matters. The FBI probe began several months ago, pre-dating Kukushkin’s arrest in the campaign finance case.
Attorney Brad Hirsch, who represents Karapetyan and four of Karapetyan’s business partners — told The Bee that he wants his clients “to formally disassociate” themselves from Kukushkin in the wake of the indictment. But to date, he has not.
“What I don’t want to do is run afoul and make a business move that the U.S. Attorney looks at and says, ‘Oh look you’re trying to hide something.’ Anything I can do to get them away from them, I’m going to do,” Hirsch said Monday. “That’s me talking; that’s not any action my clients have yet taken.”
The attorney added that he’s worried not only about the Karapetyan pot-dispensary licenses, but also about FBI agents and the Justice Department going after his clients because the sale of cannabis for recreational use, while permitted in California, is still considered illegal by the federal government.
“They’re doing federal investigations, and my clients are engaged in a business that’s not legal federally,” he said. “They’re not inclined to give much sympathy to my clients along the way.”
Nevertheless, he said about Karapetyan’s dealings with city regulators: “Everything we did was above board and done with the blessing of the city.”
Read full article: https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article236250803.html
