Tennessee Titans wide receiver Julio Jones is one of multiple defendants in a lawsuit from a cannabis company that is alleging fraud and money laundering.
According to court documents obtained by Ben Arthur of the Tennessean, Jones and his former Atlanta Falcons teammate Roddy White are among the defendants in the lawsuit that was filed on July 21 by Genetixs, a California-based cannabis company.
Here are the details, per Arthur:
The suit alleges the defendants illegally managed and operated Genetixs’ facility, and have failed to report cannabis sales since March 2021. Genetixs estimates about $3 million in cannabis has been harvested and sold illegally per month since then.
Jones and White, who were teammates with the Falcons from 2011-15, are accused of colluding with a man named John Van Beek and his son, Shaun Van Beek, to run a black-market cannabis operation through the Genetixs facility. Jones and White had invested in Genetixs through White’s SLW Holdings, per the documents.
John Van Beek was hired by Genetixs in March 2020 to be an on-site manager and operator of its leased facility, located in Desert Hot Springs, California. He’s accused of breach of contract, the failure to report cannabis sales and not providing budgets, invoices, expenditures and other paperwork to the company, according to the complaint.
A copy of the court documents can be viewed here.
The suit also alleges the looting, removal and misappropriation of Genetixs’ cannabis, and damage to property within the facility, which was allegedly abandoned and surrendered to the landlord.
Since news broke of the lawsuit, Jones’ attorney Rafe Emanuel released this statement.
“The vague allegations against SLW Holdings LLC and it’s members Roddy White and Julio Jones are meritless,” Emanuel said. “In May, SLW obtained a temporary restraining order in a related civil case to prevent unlawful conduct involving Genetixs LLC. In reply, the defendants argued conspiracy theories that were not proven by evidence in court, nor were they substantiated before any agency.
“We look forward to again defending these conspiracy theories against my clients in court.”
