Destiny Brown thought she had been recruited last year to own and operate a small-scale Missouri cannabis dispensary — and get paid $200,000 to do it.
Cannabis investor Michael Halow told Brown, who is Black, that her disabled veteran status and the marijuana offense on her father's record qualified her for a Missouri microbusiness license. The qualifications were designed for these licenses to end up in the hands of disadvantaged business owners, including disabled veterans, those with lower incomes, and people with non-violent marijuana offenses.
Brown didn't closely read the 40-page contract she signed with Halow, but says he repeatedly told her he would help her with $2 million to get the business up and running, according to a transcript of Brown's interview in March with the Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation investigators.
"Mike just said he had money to do that," Brown told officials, according to the document The Independent obtained through a public records request. "He always says that. He just said, 'I have the money. I can help.'" He never told Brown that the contract's fineprint aimed to give Halow full ownership of the business while using her as the legal front of it. A felony on Halow's record could potentially disqualify him from holding a license himself.
Read more at the St. Louis Business Journal.