Great questions Misanthrope and I have an answer or at least a theory. In simple terms, MRIB is sandbagging. MRIB has failed miserably in California and everywhere else they've said they were setting up sales. They are desparate to show some type of progress but that would require expenses like a sales force and employees. With California sales fading fast and efforts now showing consecutive quarters of significant sales decreases, MRIB must find new territory where the bar is set so low as to give the appearance of progress and sales increases without Amy expense. With Florida MRIB has the perfect stage to set up yet another charade without spending any significant money. Take a state where Marani sales are currently zero, hype the state's consumption numbers and market size, maybe even run a couple of $200 regional commercials in small markets for additional effect. Maybe MRIB sells a couple of cases but they can PR it as a HUGE step in sales having started from zero. It's all about appearance and California is now a liability with each financial report. Taking MRIB to the next level there would involve too much expense so the focus on "new territory" in Florida becomes the new vehicle with HUGE potential. But soon that would end too and then on to another state or country.
That said, I'll temper it a bit with the fact that all of this Florida information is not coming from MRIB, or at least not directly. And, to the best of my knowledge, the source of these rumors is not part of MRIB although we don't know that either. So, it could just be false information fabricated by an under water and/or opportunistic MRIB shareholder or it could be false information being filtered to sources close to but outside the company by MRIB themselves. Bottom line it's all another part of the charade and scam.