The Tennessee Titans made headlines earlier in the offseason after working a trade with the Atlanta Falcons to acquire Julio Jones. However, the superstar wide receiver has hit the spotlight again after a recent lawsuit was filed against him and former Falcons teammate Roddy White, per Larry Brown Sports.
According to sources, “A cannabis business called ‘Genetix' filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on July 21 that names Jones, White and White’s company ‘SLW Holdings, Inc.' as one of the defendants.” Apparently, Genetix hired John Van Beek to overlook the “buildout and management of their facility.”
Genetix accuses Van Beek of charging large sums of money and giving it all to his son's construction company. Julio Jones and Roddy White were both accused of working alongside John Van Beek, profiting off of illegal marijuana sales. According to Larry Brown Sports, Genetix has reported that roughly “$3 million in cannabis has been harvested and sold illegally per month since,” since March 2021.
A correspondent of Larry Brown Sports spoke with Rafe Emanual, the lawyer who represents Roddy White's company SLW Holdings, Inc. Emanual states that these allegations are “meritless” and goes as far as to say it is a “conspiracy theory.” He explains the situation in further detail.
“In May, SLW obtained a temporary restraining order in a related civil case to prevent unlawful conduct involving Genetixs, LLC. In reply, the defendants argued conspiracy theories that were not proven by evidence in Court, nor were they substantiated before any agency.”
The plot thickens even further after White apparently conducted a background check on the owners of Genetix. Through his own research, White claims that “two of the people involved with Genetix are felons who put the company’s cannabis license in jeopardy.” White believes these lawsuit allegations are in response to his background check.
This is an intriguing situation, especially since the Titans traded for Julio Jones to make a push for the Super Bowl. We'll see how it plays out, as this situation could develop into something more serious down the road.