A Los Angeles investor says the $750,000 he put into a downtown cannabis trade show never built the business he was promised — and instead helped cover private jet flights, health insurance, and a lawyer's bar dues. Jamie Chisick filed a complaint in Los Angeles County court accusing attorney Joshua Shelton and his business partner Rama Mayo of diverting his investment away from the Green Street Symposium and into personal expenses.
According to ABA Journal, the complaint alleges Shelton and Mayo took the $750,000 in exchange for a 15% ownership stake in the Green Street Symposium, promising to organize large trade events that would draw thousands of attendees and generate millions in revenue. Shelton is identified in the complaint as an attorney with the Winston Wolfe Law Firm. Chisick is now seeking to recover his investment along with punitive damages, the outlet reports.
Green Street itself has a longer history in the Los Angeles cannabis scene. The brand was founded in 2013 by branding expert Rama Mayo and cannabis attorney Joshua Shelton, according to a PR Newswire announcement, which also described Mayo as Green Street's president. That release said the company's hub, the Green Street Building, spanned 67,000 square feet at 718 South Hill Street in downtown LA, and that business figure Gary Vaynerchuk acquired a 50% stake in the company in 2017 after it caught his attention.
A Festival That Never Matched Its Promises
Green Street's first festival was announced for May 13 and 14, 2022, per that same PR Newswire release. But the event fell well short of its goals. The 2022 Green Street Festival brought in about $190,000, with roughly $178,000 of that refunded, ABA Journal reports, citing figures laid out in the complaint.
The festival's struggles reportedly started with a last-minute venue change. Cannabis Now reported that permission for the planned public outdoor location was withdrawn, forcing organizers to pivot quickly to indoor venues. Mayo told the outlet he had anticipated attendance of 5,000 people, though only about 2,000 ultimately came through the Green Street building. Not every part of the event flopped — the festival's VIP dinner at Gusto Green sold out all 50 spots at nearly $1,000 a ticket, according to Cannabis Now.
Bigger Projections, Same Disappointing Result
Rather than scale back expectations after the rocky debut, the 2023 Green Street Festival was projected to attract more than 10,000 attendees and generate up to $4.7 million in revenue, per the complaint cited by ABA Journal. The event drew a smaller crowd than projected and did not produce a profit, the outlet reports — a dramatic gap between the pitch investors reportedly heard and what actually materialized.
Chisick's complaint alleges his investment money was used for personal payments rather than building out those trade shows, including private jets, health insurance, and bar dues for Shelton specifically. The complaint also alleges investor funds paid for general overhead unrelated to Green Street Symposium operations, according to the same ABA Journal account. A separate report from Law360 similarly described the case as a California state lawsuit accusing the Los Angeles attorney and his business partner of diverting investor money toward private jet flights, bar dues, and other personal expenses rather than funding business-to-consumer cannabis trade shows.
Part of a Wider Pattern in Cannabis Investing
Chisick's allegations are not the only cannabis-investment dispute making headlines. Law360 also reported on a separate Los Angeles lawsuit in which a man alleges he was induced to invest $1.15 million into a cannabis venture that left him with a defunct business. And InvestmentNews reported that a California bankruptcy court found in 2025 that a cannabis investment scheme led by Guy S. Griffithe defrauded investors and violated securities laws, leaving investors millions short.
None of the allegations against Shelton and Mayo have been proven in court, and the claims outlined in Chisick's complaint remain allegations at this stage. For now, Chisick is pursuing the case through the Los Angeles County court system, seeking both the return of his original investment and punitive damages tied to how his money was allegedly spent.
