In contrast, Dayspring and his colleagues portray Szymczak as a “formerly happy, now disgruntled” minority owner who was fully aware and supportive of Dayspring’s management decisions. Szymczak’s lawsuit weaves a story of a once-promising business partnership gone awry after he was “shocked and horrified” to find out that Dayspring-in increasing legal and financial trouble-had been “using company funds as though they were his own private checking account.” Bill believes that sunlight is the best disinfectant,” Feldman said. Bill looks forward to presenting all of the facts and evidence to the judge and a jury. “Bill seeks full transparency, sound business practices, and compliance with all applicable cannabis laws and regulations. Szymczak’s attorney, Miles Feldman, countered in a statement to New Times. “We are confident that the evidence will show that the allegations made by Mr. In a statement to New Times, Dayspring’s attorney, Marc Smith, said that the lawsuit “asserts numerous misrepresentations and distortions of facts.” In court filings, Dayspring called the lawsuit “a transparent attempt … to try to seize for himself alone the highly successful cannabis business that I started about a decade before Szymczak’s involvement, which I have successfully managed and grown.” “Unless a receiver is appointed, the companies cannot operate properly,” Szymczak’s lawyers argue in court filings, “they will continue to be drained of funds, and they face irreparable damage … that would cause creditors to go unpaid and jobs to be lost forever.”Īmong Szymczak’s claims are that Dayspring used company funds to pay for his personal legal expenses related to FBI and IRS investigations, that he distributed more than $1 million in profits to himself this year without paying any to Szymczak, and that he improperly advanced money from his Grover Beach dispensary to other fledging projects while the companies fell into “financial peril.”ĭayspring, a well known Central Coast cannabis entrepreneur and Morro Bay High School grad, is “vigorously denying” the allegations. A court hearing on the motion is scheduled for Oct. The company also recently purchased a building in Orcutt for a future dispensary and has operations underway in the Central Valley.Īsserting fraud, breach of contract and fiduciary duty, and other claims, Szymczak is asking a judge to appoint a neutral receiver to take over company management until the litigation plays out. The dispute hits as Natural Healing Center was poised to open two new dispensaries in the cities of SLO and Morro Bay and commence cannabis farming activities throughout SLO County, as it’s received several scarce land-use permits from local governments. The Third District supervisor at the time was Adam Hill, a longtime Democratic politician in San Luis Obispo County who took his own life in August 2020 amid an ongoing FBI investigation that he said he was aware of and cooperating with.LEGAL FIGHT : A top investor in the Natural Healing Center cannabis brand, which has plans to open new dispensaries in SLO (rendered here) and Morro Bay, is suing its founder over alleged misconduct. Most of the money was paid in cash and payments were made from late 2016 through November 2019. The commissioner, identified only as a deceased commissioner of San Luis Obispo County’s Third District, received approximately $32,000 in exchange for his votes and influence, the DOJ said. In July 2021, Dayspring agreed to plead guilty to charges that he bribed a former San Luis Obispo County commissioner in order to receive influence and favorable votes that could affect his business interests. Helios Raphael “Bobby” Dayspring, 36, was sentenced in federal court Friday and ordered to pay more than $3 million in restitution, according to the United States Department of Justice.ĭayspring was a prominent business owner, operator and partner in a number of cannabis companies on the Central Coast, including grow operations and storefronts. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.Ī San Luis Obispo entrepreneur who made major waves in the cannabis industry has been sentenced to nearly two years in prison for bribing a county commissioner and filing false income on his tax returns. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.
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