LOS ANGELES – Planet 13, the Las Vegas-based multistate operator known for its wildly creative dispensary designs and marketing spectacles, is suing Snoop Dogg’s Casa Verde Capital and a smaller investment firm, claiming the two conspired to defraud their clients of tens of millions of dollars.
Planet 13 accuses El Capitan Advisors; El Capitan founder and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Nash and his spouse, Jamie Nash; Casa Verde; and Casa Verde Managing Member Karan Wadhera of “involvement in a scheme to defraud the company of funds managed by El Capitan in its capacity as the company’s fiduciary.”
Planet 13 seeks the return of more than $16.5 million dollars it invested with El Capitan, largely on the advice of Casa Verde. In addition, the suit asks the court to appoint a special-purpose receiver to manage bankrupt El Capitan until all clients’ funds are returned.
According to court documents, Planet 13 claims to have uncovered “unmistakable evidence” El Capitan supplied false bank statements, hoping to conceal what Nash allegedly confessed was theft of the funds. Planet 13 also believes it uncovered ongoing fraud in which El Capitan and Casa Verde conspired to cover the theft and ensure Casa Verde would profit from a $1 million investment it made in El Capitan.
“Utilizing an intricate web of fake bank statements and repeated lies, defendants convinced Planet 13 to transfer $16.5 million into what Planet 13 through were legitimate fiduciary accounts, surreptitiously converted Planet 13’s money to their own use, and then concealed the fact that Planet 13’s money was gone,” the lawsuit states.
Planet 13 became suspicious in May 2023 when Casa Verde sued El Capitan for breach of contract. The latter two companies had entered into a written agreement the previous month, spelling out details for El Capitan to pay $35 million to buy back one million shares of Casa Verde’s initial $1 million investment. When El Capitan subsequently failed to make the first of two payments one week later and a second payment the following month, Casa Verde sued. A California judge awarded Casa Verde $35.7 million and required El Capitan to turn over for distribution what funds remained.
Casa Verde, which Dogg co-founded, blames Andrew Nash for the alleged fraud and denies any allegations of wrongdoing.
“Casa Verde did not participate in and was not aware of any of the fraud or other misdeeds alleged by Planet 13,” a Casa Verde spokesperson told Green Market Report. “It is important to note that Casa Verde offered to cooperate with Planet 13, but Planet 13 refused and decided instead to sue Casa Verde, which is disappointing.”
But according to court documents, Planet 13 sees things another way.
“In reality, Casa Verde was attempting to exit El Capitan with as much money as it could grab, hoping to escape before it was revealed that El Capitan and Casa Verde had defrauded their clients, including Planet 13,” the lawsuit states. “Indeed, had Casa Verde and Mr. Wadhera conducted any reasonable inquiry into El Capitan’s financial condition—of which they had unique knowledge given their inspection rights—they could have reasonably believed that the [sale and repurchase agreement] was not in El Capitan’s best interests or the interest of El Capitan’s creditors because, at the time of execution of the [sale and repurchase agreement], El Capitan was insolvent. … Casa Verde knew that the accounts it was levying held customer funds, and funds that could not be used to satisfy a judgment against El Capitan.”
In addition to Planet 13, Gro Capital LLC, Texas Original Holdings, Kind Op Corp., and Mercantile International Banking Corp. have sued to join Casa Verde’s judgment, claiming the El Capitan funds never belonged to Casa Verde or El Capitan and therefore were not subject to distribution by the court.
The next hearing for the Planet 13 lawsuit is scheduled for May 21. The case, filed in California Superior Court, Los Angeles, is Planet 13 Holdings Inc. v. El Capitan Advisors Inc. et al.
