Mike Tyson, Ric Flair, Carma and LGNDS have filed a sweeping 76-page, 21-count lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Illinois, accusing former Carma executives Chad Bronstein, Adam Wilks and Nicole Cosby — plus shareholder James Case — of a "brazen RICO conspiracy" involving wire fraud, embezzlement, money laundering and extortion around the Tyson 2.0 and Ric Flair Drip cannabis brands. The plaintiffs are seeking more than $50 million in damages, legal fees and costs, and have requested a jury trial.
The complaint alleges that Bronstein, Wilks and Cosby — who served as Carma's president and chairman, CEO, and chief legal and licensing officer, respectively — sold licensing rights they were not authorized to sell under their agreements with Tyson and Flair. It further accuses Wilks of maintaining an undisclosed "kickback" deal with vape maker DomPen, under which he received concealed payments in exchange for turning a blind eye to DomPen's unauthorized use of Carma's intellectual property. DomPen itself is not named as a defendant.
The suit paints a picture of the defendants treating Carma as a personal piggy bank. It alleges Bronstein and Wilks misused more than $1 million in company funds for unauthorized personal expenses, including private jet travel, costs associated with a personal yacht, home renovations, mortgage payments, lavish entertainment and excessive, unapproved bonuses — self-dealing that the complaint says enriched the defendants "to the tune of tens of millions of dollars." Carma and LGNDS have collaborated to distribute the Tyson 2.0 and Ric Flair Drip cannabis products, which trade on the names and likenesses of the former heavyweight boxing champion and the pro wrestling legend.
Defense attorneys pushed back hard. Jonathan Cyrluk, representing Bronstein and Cosby, called the complaint "fiction dressed up as a lawsuit," telling Front Office Sports that before filing, the plaintiffs "tried to intimidate my clients with settlement demands that read more like a shakedown than a legal claim — demanding millions of dollars and attempting to force others to surrender their Carma shares." He added that his clients "won't be bullied and are prepared to knock out this meritless lawsuit in court." Wilks's attorney similarly dismissed the claims as without substance.
Celebrity cannabis brands have become big business, and the Tyson and Flair ventures were among the highest-profile entrants. But RICO claims face a notoriously high bar in federal court, and the defense's "shakedown" counter-narrative sets up a bruising fight over who exploited whom. With a jury trial requested and tens of millions at stake, the Illinois case promises to air the cannabis industry's growing pains in public.