NJ resident and noted celebrity Whoopi Goldberg is suing the shady ex-Mayor of Paterson, Joey Torres, over a dispensary deal gone bad.
Her company Whoop Farm made a deal with his nonprofit House of Hope to lease space. They were paying more than $5,000 a month before getting state approval to open.
Torres spent 13 months in jail according to the Asbury Park Press.
It seemed that Whoopi and her team thought the shady politician could help them open their doors. They thought he could help break local opposition to dispensaries, but he did not. Apparently, he has not been on good terms, much less friendly, with Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh for years according to NorthJersey.com.
Sayegh has long been in favor of legal cannabis dispensaries operating in the city. But loud opposition has stopped the Council from allowing adult-use cannabis dispensaries from operating at reasonable distances from school.
Torres is now countersuing Whoop Fam for not continuing to make payments.
Somehow by twists of opposition and distance problems, only Rise, owned by the large Multi-State Operator Green Thumb Industries, is allowed to sell both medical and adult-use cannabis in the city.
Heady NJ heard a rumor that anti-cannabis dispensary councilmembers are protecting shady convenience stores selling weed.
Goldberg lives in West Orange in North Jersey and has had a few ventures in cannabis. She recently released an infused hemp seltzer drink line.
Whoopfam won a conditional license from the NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) in July 2023.
