Andrew Rigby is overseeing Utah’s medical cannabis industry rollout and is also a “silent partner/investor” in at least one grow license: Wholesome Ag.
Utah’s medical cannabis program is rotten to its core. Wholesome Ag was awarded a license as a result of the backroom negotiations to interfere with the 2018 election by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the State of Utah assembly, the Marijuana Policy Project and Libertas Institute. Both Marijuana Policy Project and Libertas receive significant funding from the Koch Donor network through DonorsTrust.
Alex Iorg and DJ Schanz were chosen by Libertas to be the local faces of the Utah medical marijuana campaign with national support from Marijuana Policy Project. Alex and DJ ran their mouths around the state bragging that they were guaranteed 1/8 cultivation licenses and 2/14 pharmacy licenses. GRAMA requests by Fox 13 confirm they are partial owners of Wholesome Ag.
Prior to overseeing the medical marijuana program, Drew Rigby made many out of state investments in cannabis businesses through Foresight Capital Management – a business he co-founded. National investments were found through affiliations with Marijuana Policy Project, Vicente Sederberg LLP and the National Cannabis Industry Association. As recently as 2018, Rigby was investing through these industry liaisons and co-sponsoring investor conferences with them.
There are at least three recordings that implicate Andrew Rigby, Alex Iorg, DJ Schanz and Tom Paskett of Utah Cannabis Business Association in the corruption. An industry guy in SLC is running his mouth around town that he has a video of Rigby, Paskett, Schanz and Iorg making negotiations over licenses at Fleming Steakhouse and took audio of Alex and DJ claiming – before licenses were awarded – that they would get them.
An anonymous source heard the rumor and another one that Drew, Alex and DJ approached the owners of a greenhouse already designed for indoor plant cultivation and made a lowball offer. Of course, overseeing the medical cannabis industry rollout in Utah and having denied their app for license, Rigby had prior knowledge of their financial position.
In the 43 minute audio recording, the greenhouse owners confirm that Rigby is a partner on the Wholesome Ag license.
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(minute 6)
Anonymous: You mentioned you had someone who wanted to lease the land, for a grow.
Greenhouse Owner 1: Oh, just some friends of ours…. It wasn’t anybody big
Greenhouse Owner 2: We had uh, one of the outfits who had one of the medical licenses come and look at this facility.
GO1: Do you know DJ Saunders and then…
Anon: DJ [Schanz] and Alex [Iorg]
GO1: Yeah.
GO2: Yeah, and then Jack Rubin, that group out of Park City… They were kinda desperate for a place to grow because they didn’t have anything.
Anon: Did Drew [Rigby] come?
GO2: He was here, yeah.
Anon: Drew Rigby?
GO1: Yeah.
Anon: You guys know who Drew is, right?
GO2: Yeah.
GO1: Yeah, we saw him last Tuesday… Drew is so focused on medical and totally forgotten about any of the hemp laws or helping us out right now.
Anon: You know why, right? Drew is a stakeholder
GO1: Yeah, with DJ. Yeah.
GO2: Yeah.
Anon: It’s so illegal.
GO1: Yeah.
Anon: It’s unbelievable.
(minute 35)
Anon: It’s fascinating to me that you didn’t get a license. When the cultivation licenses were starting to come out, I didn’t know if you guys were going to be interested in doing that. But I was sure someone was going to wanna look at possibly buying you out.
GO2: Yeah, we didn’t have the money to do it ourselves. We were going to partner with another group but that’s not a good way to do it, without everything already set up. Surprisingly, Jack Rubin and those guys [Wholesome Ag] got what they did with nothing in place.
Anon: It’s literally because they know Drew. I have talked to a few other individuals since the pharmacy licenses dropped and they were just dumbfounded because of what you just said, these guys don’t even have a board. They don’t have anyone on the app who is growing it for them. They don’t have anybody who has run any type of retail business. They are literally just investors, how do any of them have experience do that?. Experience was 250/950 points of the scoring process on the RFP, they didn’t have it and they sailed right through it. It made no sense whatsoever…
GO1: Well Alex is, Alex Iorg. Campaign manager of Utah Patients Coalition.
[end transcription]
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Honest business people have been defrauded. Patients have been sold out. The licensing process is a scam. Utahns deserve honesty, integrity and leaders who don’t deny the truth.
Choose the right. Investigate Drew Rigby, the Utah legislature and the LDS Church’s corrupt business dealings.