PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Markowitz Herbold PC announced that in a ruling from the bench, a judge in Multnomah County Circuit Court dismissed all securities claims against Nitin Khanna, Karan Khanna, Angelo Lombardi, and Sam Knapp in lawsuit brought by investors in CBD company Sentia Wellness. The lawsuit was filed by Boris Jordan, Wilder Ramsey, Igor Gimelshtein and others investors in Sentia.
“I am thrilled with this decision,” said Nitin Khanna. “I look forward to putting this entire episode in the rearview mirror.”
Sentia was a CBD cannabis startup that failed to achieve its promise and was sold because of substantial changes in the regulatory environment, the impact of COVID-19 on retail sales and interference by the very investors who brought this suit. Two of the investors, Boris Jordan and Sunny Puri, sat on Sentia’s board and approved its budget, spending and strategic direction. The interference by them and others in the operations of the company form the basis of $1.5 billion and $150 million countersuits by Khanna and Sentia, respectively.
“The Court dismissed these claims at the first available opportunity,” said Vivek Kothari, Khanna’s attorney. “It’s a fantastic result for claims that should never have been brought in the first place.”
As an indication of the impact of the FDA and COVID-19, public company valuations of CBD companies during the same period between Sentia’s inception and sale dropped by 90% or more. Sentia returned more money to its investors than any of these public companies. It was eventually sold in 2021 to California Lifestyle company Kadenwood.
Khanna has countersued, claiming that Boris Jordan of Measure 8, Wilder Ramsey at Gron, Igor Gimelshtein from Zola Global, and Sunny Puri of Anson Funds, among others, were unethical and focused primarily on self-enrichment to the detriment of other shareholders. These claims were made public in a recent lawsuit filing that asserts more than $1.5 billion in damages.