Attorneys on both sides of a Nevada retail cannabis license injunction hearing rested their cases Wednesday after nearly three months of on-and-off testimony, but not before some end-of-day courtroom drama.
While questioning Alfred Terteryan, an executive for Helping Hands Wellness Center — a company that last year received three coveted retail cannabis licenses from the state — plaintiffs’ attorney Dominic Gentile questioned whether Helping Hands is being funded by potentially criminal interests.
“Have you ever heard of ‘Armenian Power'?” Gentile asked Terteryan, an Armenian-American. “Have any of the people who loaned you money been backgrounded by the state of Nevada for purposes of these licenses?”
In December, the state approved 61 conditional licenses out of a competitive pool of more than 460. A group of more than two-dozen rejected applicants earlier this year filed suit in Clark County District Court seeking an injunction — which has essentially brought the 2018 licensing process to a standstill.
Some say the competitive application process was unconstitutional. Some seek a do-over while others want financial damages.
Gentile’s line of questioning apparently referenced a Los Angeles street gang, sometimes known as AP13, according to published reports.
Terteryan — who acts as chief operating officer for Helping Hands and has residences in Southern California and Nevada — quickly dismissed Gentile’s probing into the sources of loans received by Terteryan and his wife, Helping Hands co-owner Klaris Terteryan.
Terteryan testified that his wife had received $1.8 million in loans for the business from “friends and family.”
Attorney Alina Shell objected to Gentile’s line of questioning.
“I really don’t understand what the ethnic backgrounds of people loaning money to the witness has to do with anything,” Shell commented to Clark County District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez. “I’m very concerned about some of the statements made in court, not just today, that, frankly, I’ve found to be racist.”
Shell said she was also concerned about what she said was a previous racially insensitive PowerPoint presentation and separate usage of the term “oriental” by attorney Will Kemp.
Kemp, Shell said, described a South Korean-born board member for her client, GreenMart of Nevada NLV, as “oriental” in May.
As other license-winners have done before him, Terteryan testified that his company had suffered financially because the process of opening new locations has essentially been brought to a standstill during the litigation.
Helping Hands was awarded three retail cannabis licenses last year for potential operations in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County — arguably three of the most-coveted license jurisdictions in the state.
Terteryan also testified that due to the injunction hearing, Helping Hands was forced to walk away from potentially lucrative deals to purchase licenses.
He said Helping Hands earlier this year had letters of intent for a $12 million purchase of its Clark County license and a $10.2 million purchase of its Las Vegas license before being tabled because of the uncertainty surrounding the injunction.
After both sides rested Wednesday afternoon, Gonzalez said closing arguments were set to take place Thursday and Friday. Gonzalez will then issue a ruling on the injunction, though it’s unclear when that will happen.
Millions of dollars are at stake in the case, in which hearings started in May and has featured close to two dozen court dates so far. The state says the 60-plus medical and recreational marijuana dispensaries currently open reported more than $608 million in sales during a recent 12-month span.
In recent months, the state has been collecting $7 million to $9 million per month in taxes from marijuana sales, according to a Department of Taxation spokesman.