Another cannabis company sees a major upper management shakeup as the board of directors from Namaste Technologies Inc. (TSXV: N) officially forces out Chief Executive Officer Sean Dollinger.
Chief Product Officer and Director of Artificial Intelligence Meni Morim will step in as interim CEO as the company initiates a strategic review for a potential sale to an unnamed interested party following the firing. The board has also appointed Darren Gill as new Chief Strategy Officer while that review is underway.
Former CEO Dollinger was ousted after an investigation from a special committee that was formed to look into allegations from a negative short seller report released back in October.
According to Namaste, the committee discovered evidence of self-dealing involving the sale of U.S. subsidiary Dollinger Enterprises. The company issued this statement regarding the situation:
The company previously made headlines across both stock and marijuana news outlets in May of 2018 when they invited shareholders to a special party if they pledged to hold onto Namaste shares for at least 90 days.
After that party was held in September, cannabis giant Tilray ceased all deals with Namaste, stating the activities that took place during the party weren’t conducive to “legitimizing medical cannabis with the medical community.”
Dollinger’s ousting is just the latest in a string of high-profile firings at pot companies since legalization arrived three short months ago.
Winnipeg company Bonify also recently canned several members of upper management and brought on consulting firm RavenQuest to investigate allegations of non-licensed cannabis being passed off as legal product to consumers.
Just a month after recreational marijuana was legalized through the Cannabis Act, the British Columbia Securities Commission additionally banned a collection of consultants and pot companies from buying stock while a market abuse scheme investigation is underway.
While several of those companies had their temporary bans lifted last month, the investigation is still ongoing.
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