Item 3. Legal Proceedings
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
Bankruptcy Claim
During 2019, the Company’s subsidiary, MariMed Hemp, Inc. ("MHI") sold and delivered hemp seed inventory to GenCanna Global Inc., a Kentucky-based cultivator, producer, and distributor of hemp (“GenCanna”). At the time of sale, the Company owned a 33.5% ownership interest in GenCanna. The Company recorded a related party receivable of approximately $29 million from the sale, which was fully reserved at December 31, 2019.
On January 24, 2020, an involuntary bankruptcy proceeding under Chapter 11 was filed against GenCanna and its wholly-owned subsidiary, OGGUSA Inc. (f/k/a GenCanna Global US, Inc.) ("OGGUSA" and together with GenCanna, the "OGGUSA Debtors") in the United States Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of Kentucky (the "Bankruptcy Court"). In February 2020, the OGGUSA Debtors, agreed to convert the involuntary bankruptcy proceeding into a voluntary Chapter 11 proceeding. The OGGUSA Debtors' subsidiary, Hemp Kentucky LLC, also filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court.
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In May 2020, after an abbreviated solicitation/bid/sale process, the Bankruptcy Court, over numerous objections by creditors and shareholders of the OGGUSA Debtors, which included the Company, entered an order authorizing the sale of all or substantially all of the assets of the OGGUSA Debtors to MGG Investment Group LP ("MGG"), a creditor of the OGGUSA Debtors. After the consummation of the sale of all or substantially all of their assets and business, the OGGUSA Debtors filed their liquidating plan of reorganization (the “Liquidating Plan”) to collect various prepetition payments and commercial claims against third parties, liquidate the remaining assets of the OGGUSA Debtors, and make payments to creditors. The Liquidating Plan was confirmed by the Bankruptcy Court on November 12, 2020.
Since the approval of the Liquidating Plan, the OGGUSA Debtors have been in the process of liquidating the remaining assets, negotiating and prosecuting objections to other creditors’ claims, and pursuing the collection of accounts receivable and Chapter 5 bankruptcy avoidance claims.
In April 2022, the Plan Administrator filed a Complaint against MHI (the "Complaint") alleging certain preferential transfers of assets, which were valued by the Plan Administrator at $250,000, relating to payments on a $600,000 loan made to MHI by the Company prior to the filing of the OGGUSA Debtors Chapter 11 proceeding (the "Preferential Claim"). The Complaint sought to recover an amount no less than $200,000 and to disallow MHI’s unsecured general claim in the bankruptcy proceeding until such time as such preferential transfer had been repaid to the OGGUSA Debtors.
In July 2023, MHI entered into a Settlement and Release Agreement with the Plan Administrator pursuant to which it agreed to reduce its Bankruptcy Court approved unsecured general claim to $15.5 million, or by 50%, in consideration for the settlement of the Preferential Claim and a general release of MHI and the Company.
As of the date of this filing, there is insufficient information to determine how much MHI may receive upon the completion of the liquidation of the remaining assets of the OGGUSA Debtors on account of its general unsecured claim, if anything.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
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PART II