In just the latest weird move by a company seemingly helmed by the inhabitants of a clown car, Creative Edge Nutrition (
OTO:FITX,
Forum) has announced it will
appeal its medical marijuana license refusal to NAFTA, on the grounds that Health Canada’s rejection of the MMPR application was ‘arbitrary and capricious and not based on any tangible evidence’.
The company says it will seek arbitration under Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which allows investors to settle disputes that ensure equal treatment among all parties.
Though it should be noted that saying one will appeal to NAFTA is a very different situation from *actually* appealing to NAFTA, this is not the first time FITX has gone on the legal attack, having previously filed court papers on the same topic against Health Canada, only to pull them back later, and with insiders having previously threatened and filed lawsuits against critics of the company (myself included) – again, only to pull back weeks later rather than actually fight a case.
The issue at hand is, Creative Edge Nutrition is a pump and dump, and was called out for being so on this website several times. Later investigative work by the award winning business journalist
Grant Robertson of the Globe and Mail found even more weirdness at the company, which at one point nearly two years claimed it would have ‘the world’s largest medical marijuana processing facility’ licensed and running ‘in a month’. According to those with knowledge of the facility, what it has is a pole barn with no zoning for the intended use, no permitting and, as of a few months back, no licensing.
It remains to be seen how the company intends to demonstrate Health Canada’s rejection was in any way arbitrary, when the firm had been a thorn in the side of the Canadian Minister of Health for months as revelation after revelation emerged showing shadowy business practices, ridiculous hype, broken promises, antagonism and threats toward local government, and share dumping from the CEO.
When a company is applying to a government regulatory body to be one of the few companies allowed to get special dispensation to grow and sell an illegal drug to the general public, it stands to reason they’ll need to be squeaky clean in any and all activities, backgrounds and plans.
Creative Edge Nutrition clearly and undeniably failed on all counts.
A quick summary of what was found:
- FITX was found to be releasing news in the name of fake employees, which led to a lobby group breaking ties with the firm, and their newswire partner ending their relationship
- FITX was denied permitting by the town of Lakeshore when it became clear their plans would have overloaded local utilities
- FITX’s facility was only zoned to have six employees, but would have needed ten times that number to operate
- FITX’s CEO pumped out continuous false claims about the timing of his license approval, the size of his facility, the completion of his facility, that Health Canada was ‘asking the company to get a move on so they could be licensed’, that employees were good friends with the Minister of Health..
- FITX’s CEO was selling what turned out to be some 71 million shares in the company while asking shareholders to stay long
- FITX was being investigated by the Ontario Securities Commission
- A pair of lobbyists working for Pathway Group left that company after revelations they were working directly with Creative Edge without Pathway’s knowledge
- The federal opposition complained vigorously to the government that FITX should be rejected by Health Canada because of the ongoing revelations of wrongdoings with the company
- FITX was never a registered lobbyist, though it regularly lobbied to government officials and representatives
- FITX investors were advised by Health Canada to contact that RCMP if they had concerns about the company
- FITX’s CEO used several different signatures on official documents, leading to suggestions other employees were faking his signature. When questioned, Chaaban said he could change his signature ‘depending on mood’ and could sign his name as Ronald McDonald if he wanted
- A Lakeshore ‘town hall’ meeting was interrupted when police were called after alleged threats from FITX insiders to local residents
- FITX insiders were found to have been charged with insider trading by the SEC in the US in relation to dealings in other companies
- A long line of fake Twitter accounts, Facebook accounts and ‘astroturf’ news sites have been created to present the FITX viewpoint and assail critics
- Company representatives showed photos of a marijuana facility on Facebook and in public meetings with residents of Lakeshore to show how advanced their facility was which, by their own admission, were actually pictures of facilities owned by other companies, in other countries
- The FITX CEO was warned that his activities on Facebook promoting his company were problematic, leading to his removing all Facebook content
- And, ultimately, the company was denied a license by Health Canada based on problems with management’s conduct
Company stock has dropped from $0.10 before the allegations came to light, to under half a penny today.
FITX says, in its news release regarding the NAFTA move: “CEN Biotech Inc. is now in receipt of new factual information evidencing such an arbitrary and capricious denial of its license. Service and notice for arbitration was the appropriate next step to settle the losses its investors have suffered as a result of the MMPR program in Canada. The losses suffered by the company, its investors, and family and friends are immeasurable. Therefore, the company will seek all legal and dispute measures available to raise claim and recapture its losses.”
Then, bizarrely, the release goes on to say, “The Notice is seeking an undisclosed, yet sizable amount based on the accumulated potential revenue of its fully completed and inspected medical marijuana manufacturing facility.”
If it even needs to be mentioned, CEN Biotech does not actually have a ‘fully completed and inspected medical marijuana manufacturing facility’ to speak of.
--Chris Parry
https://www.twitter.com/chrisparry