corporate governance 101
My Opinions on Corporate Governance 101: If you’re trying to convince the world that your entities are completely separate, maybe don’t issue a buyout check that could appear to be in bad faith after rejection, from an LLC tied to your operations in another state especially for a mere $100. Not $100,000. Not $1 million. Just $100. The amount doesn’t matter; the act itself feels like a masterclass in how to contradict everything you’ve been insisting isn’t true.
Consider this: An Illinois LLC, newly approved for a special use permit for a dispensary, decides to pay for what could be interpreted as a bad faith partner buyout in Michigan during litigation, all while claiming the entities are independent and unrelated. But here’s the kicker: even their own website references it as “the Company,” portraying the entire operation as a single, cohesive entity. That $100 check? It’s not just a questionable move it’s the perfect string that ties together alleged conveyance issues, what might be viewed as bad faith actions, and questionable valuations in one damning bow.
The thing is, they didn’t even need to do it. They could have written the check personally, avoided any connection, and stayed in the clear. But instead, the LLC tied to a dispensary approval gets involved, completely blowing their cover and validating everything the other side has been saying. It’s Theranos-level sloppy. Because if the initial allegations raise eyebrows, the cover-up (or lack thereof) is what really takes the cake. When you’re trying to keep entities and financials untangled but instead create what looks like a paper trail of commingling funds, that’s not just negligence that’s comedy gold.
I even called in some favors, reaching out to see if any well-known companies had ever pulled a stunt like this for inspiration. The response? No competent law firm, executive, or even halfway-educated intern would ever allow this to occur. And yet… here we are. Suspected questionable actions don’t scale by the dollar they scale by the audacity. If they’re taking cues from the Theranos playbook, I guess flipping through the Madoff and Enron chapters on commingling funds isn’t too far off.