Hempstract Inc (HPST)

[I-Glow]

Cannabis Executive Justin Costello-GRN Funds sued for Securities Fraud

I recently read a civil complaint filed in Washington State Superior Court in which a local couple alleges that a man named Justin Costello defrauded them for about $5 million in an investment scheme involving cannabis and CBD.

According to the complaint, Costello, the founder of GRN Funds, misrepresented himself as a “self-made hedge fund billionaire” and financial whiz. He’s been around the legal cannabis industry for a while in the Pacific Northwest and is pretty well known for some over-embellished tales about his life and background. The civil complaint alleges he claimed to have been shot twice while serving in the special forces, had an MBA from Harvard, was the youngest hedge fund billionaire ever, manages all expenditures of a Saudi prince’s family and that he worked directly for former Vice President Dick Cheney at Halliburton.

In other words, Costello tells an impressive, but hard to believe story about himself.

When I first met him about five years ago, he was obviously trying to impress people and said he was selling a chain of Seattle cannabis stores to hedge fund friends in New York City for $60 to $70 million.

When I asked him if I could see the store’s audited financials, he didn’t know what audited financials were. That did it. As far as I was concerned, he was exposed. After all, no real investor would ever consider buying a business without seeing audited financials from a reputable CPA firm.

What amazes me is that several other publications in this industry including MJBiz Daily and High Times ran stories on Costello and his business ventures, apparently without looking into his claims.

https://www.marijuanaventure.com/fraud-aplenty/

https://cannabislaw.report/cannabis-executive-justin-costello-grn-funds-sued-for-securities-fraud/

IG