Portland attorney accused of hiding part in real estate fraud, then reaping hundreds of thousands in marijuana deal

Iris Cash timeline

2011 to 2014: Oregon expense supervisor Shayne Kniss raises $5 million from Oregon retirees for actual estate investments. Nick Slinde normally takes a 15% stake in the marijuana business in exchange for authorized get the job done for Iris.

2015: Kniss shutters Iris to aim on cannabis startups buyers stop acquiring regular monthly distributions. Oregon choose appoints a receiver to get command of Iris and get better any available resources for investors.

2016: Portland investor Nitin Khanna and his brother purchase the marijuana organization from the Iris estate for $519,000 Nick Slinde, who has usually represented Khanna, retains a stake in the cannabis organization, later on recognized as Cura Hashish, or Select.

2018: Federal prosecutors charge Kniss with wire fraud he pleads guilty to a solitary count.

2019: Kniss sentenced to three many years in federal jail. He documents a bar criticism towards Slinde, alleging the lawyer experienced a conflict of fascination by negotiating on behalf of Iris and the cannabis business enterprise, in which Slinde had a stake, concurrently. Cura, the cannabis organization, agrees to a $1 billion, all-stock sale to a Massachusetts corporation, Curaleaf.

2020: Cura completes its sale, but pursuing a sharp decline in Curaleaf’s share value the deal is now truly worth about $400 million.

2022: Khanna, Slinde and other folks sued by Curaleaf’s chairman above an alleged $60 million securities fraud about the launch of a separate wellness organization identified as Sentia. Slinde served as Sentia’s standard counsel.