The marijuana vending machine startup Medbox Inc. got smoked last month by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which accused the company of filing sham earnings reports. It was the latest in a series of setbacks for the cannabis company, which last year changed its name to Notis Global Inc.
The SEC’s March 9 announcement that it had charged Medbox with falsely touting “record” revenues based on illegal stock sales was only the latest round of legal trouble for the embattled dispensary. Medbox founder Vincent Mehdizadeh, once touted as the legal weed industry’s first potential billionaire, agreed to pay $12 million to settle his part of the SEC case.
