A lawsuit filed this week by former Ignite executive vice-president Curtis Heffernan, alleges he was fired in June because he tried to flag a proposal to misclassify a government Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan as “miscellaneous income.”
Law360
- Heffernan’s lawyer couldn’t confirm whether the company misreported the PPP loan. Ignite received between $1M and $2M from the program, according to government data.
Among money-hemorrhaging pot bosses, Ignite CEO and Instagram celebrity Dan Bilzerian (31.9M followers) stands out for his performative obnoxiousness.
- The plaintiff’s lawyer said Bilzerian “traveled the world with a harem of models that would make Hugh Hefner jealous, expecting that the company would cover it all.”
- Heffernan alleges he’d been pressured to approve $350,000 in expenditures on Bilzerian’s Los Angeles home including a paintball field, a rock climbing wall, a game room and a $15,000 ping pong table. According to the complaint, Bilzerian said pool parties at the house justified the expense.
- Ignite covers the $200,000 rent on Bilzerian’s home, the lawsuit says.
Forbes - In 2019, Ignite reported a net loss of C$67M (US$50M) on C$9.6M in sales.
- Bilzerian told TMZ that Heffernan was fired for “incompetence and negligence,” and said the company plans to counter sue.
- View Heffernan’s lawsuit here.
In a scathing piece at Forbes, Chris Roberts writes, “What is uncommon is how bloated and profligate Bilzerian’s company managed to become in less than one year.”
