Former Hoboken Health Department Director Leo Pellegrini is going to give a deposition in the Nature’s Touch dispensary case alleging corruption blocked them from opening.
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Notably, Pellegrini was caught embezzling money and sentenced to federal prison in June 2025 for embezzling money.
Pellegrini is being held in the Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution in South Jersey. So he is not going to testify in court. Instead, he is going to give a deposition in September while at the prison.
The trial itself is scheduled for December 14th before Superior Court Judge Joseph Turula in Hudson County.
Nature’s Touch Alleges Hoboken Cannabis Corruption
Nature’s Touch sued after not being allowed by the City of Hoboken to open. They initially received Hoboken Cannabis Review Board (CRB) approval in January 2022.
The Court noted that “according to Pellegrini’s complaint at a January 14th, 2022 meeting, Mayor (Ravi) Bhalla stated that he had received a phone call from Mayor (Steve) Fulop of Jersey City. And Mayor Fulop was “extremely upset and very angry” about the Board’s decision to support Nature’s Touch’s application because his wife planned to open a medical cannabis dispensary in the City.”
Quid Pro Quo for Shady MSO Story Dispensary?
The lawsuit notes that Pellegrini alleged Fulop promised to provide legal work for the law firm Schenck, Price, Smith, & King LLP, where Bhalla worked via the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency (JCRA), if he opposed Nature’s Touch.
Thus, Nature’s Touch believes that Bhalla stopped their progress toward opening as part of a quid pro quo with former Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop. His wife owned the building that the shady Multi-State Operator (MSO) Story Dispensary was going to use.
Hudson County View reported the JCRA did indeed award Bhalla’s law firm a contract in April 2022.
Bhalla is now an Assemblyman in the 32nd district and dismissed the allegations to Hudson County View.
Story Dispensary was supposed to open at 51-53 14th Street. Nature’s Touch told the Hoboken CRB they were going to open at 1014 Washington Street. That’s an 8-minute walk away.
So, in theory, Fulop minded nearby competition for his wife’s dispensary while not seeming to mind dispensaries being too close together in Jersey City.
Heady NJ has heard from many sources in the cannabis industry of wives and women used as figureheads to seem “women owned” to game the system and signal virtues.
Nature’s Touch case was initially filed in 2024 after Pellegrini called the deal shady in a separate, unsuccessful lawsuit.
Hoboken is not the only New Jersey town where Heady NJ has heard many rumors of shady games played with cannabis license applicants.
Shady Hoboken Cannabis Dispensary Backlash and Fallout
Story Dispensary did nothing to placate residents who were enraged that a dispensary was going to replace a tavern. So their application created a very significant backlash that local politicians sought to exploit. So, the hearings for the shady Story dispensary dragged on for months while high-end lawyers argued about its merits, and many, many residents questioned every single thing about the dispensary and the deal.
Even after all the outrage, Story Dispensary of Hoboken was approved. But it has yet to open. According to Hoboken Girl, a nearby condo association did sue them, which might have complicated the process.
So, Nature’s Touch is suing former Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, the City of Hoboken, Fulop and his wife Jaclyn. Along with several people nicknamed “John Doe.”
So, former Mayor Fulop Along with setting up a market where several dispensaries have closed. It is unfortunate that several local minority owned dispensaries have closed. In addition, the one partially owned by the celebrity Ice-T closed, in part due to great competition. Fulop also left the city with a $255 million deficit, which the NJ State Comptroller is investigating.
Story dispensary did open in Springfield in Union County. But they ultimately closed.
