According to the Lars Olofsson-led Juicy Fields scam investigation, the Berlin-based cannabis consultancy, MJ Universe, founded by cannabis insider Lisa Haag, and the online cannabis investing website, Kraut Invest she is the publisher of, have multiple links to Juicy Fields
One of the overarching themes of the entire Juicy Fields scam is how many “cannabis insiders” were linked to it. In other words, people who, by dint of their training and or cannabis industry experience should have known this was a scam, but went along with it, in silence anyway, even if they had the power to sound the alarm. Olofsson’s definition of “Juicy Fields facilitator” is whether or not someone worked directly for the company, whether or not they got paid what they were “due” if not paid at all.
Association with the company has also not so far apparently caused any professional censure, which is why Olofsson is beginning to publish the names of other facilitators he has information about.
Two of the companies on the list of Lars Olofsson’s “facilitators” are MJ Universe and Kraut Invest – both directly linked to Berlin-based Lisa Haag.
Haag is also a founding member and on the board of the cannabis industry group, BvCW – by its own admission an offshoot of Deutsche Hanfverband (DHV). She also works with and is a sponsor of the ICBC (indeed every company in this article as well as individual is a sponsor of, and or affiliated in some way with the conference.)
Information given confidentially to the litigation team also suggests that Haag worked directly for Juicy Fields.
So, who is Haag, and what are the spider’s web of relationships that connect the dots?
Strategic Partners
MJ Universe says that its mission is to forward the progress of the hemp and cannabis universe. To that end Haag offers a range of specialized, cannabis focussed services, from compliance to event management.
However, two of the strategic partners Haag works with, and have also repeatedly been profiled in Kraut Invest, are directly linked to working for and on behalf of Juicy Fields. Haag in fact, still lists them directly on her company website under “Special Agents.”
These individuals are:
Kai Friedrich Niermann, a well-known German cannabis lawyer, regular on the conference circuit and profiled often in cannabis media, who according to Olofsson’s sources, tried to set up fake deals for the company including merely installing cameras over cultivation rooms unconnected to the company as legitimate sources of product, and appearing on a widely seen promotional advertisement for Juicy Fields that was the reason that lead plaintiff Daniel Johansson’s father was persuaded to invest 100k euros. Beyond this, there are sources who claim that Friedrich Niermann was paid for his services in shopping bags full of cash.
Friedrich Niermann has bragged in both the German and English speaking press that he is ”friends” with Burkhardt Blienhart, Germany’s drugs czar. Friedrich Niermann also contacted Green Market Report after the story ran connecting him directly to the company as one of its lawyers, demanding that they take the story offline, which the zine admirably refused to do.
Shlomo Booklin. The GMP consultant and ”master grower” who has previously worked for well-known Canadian firms like Tilray, was, according to information circulated by Juicy Fields, associated with the company ”from the beginning,” although it is unclear whether that means 2017, as listed on Alan Glanse’s Linked In profile, 2019, when Viktor Bitner formally registered the company in Berlin, 2020, when the website launched, or any other subsequent time. He was publicly connected as of Q’1 2022 when his name was associated with the Danish cultivators bragged about by the company, and at several conferences in Portugal and Spain as late as early summer. He was however profiled in late 2020 by Kraut Invest in an interview which strangely did not mention his association with either Juicy Fields (or Haag). His Linked In profile does not list this position, although it does mention his position with Cannavigia, a firm also repeatedly profiled in Kraut Invest.
Booklin is currently apparently now working for Green Island Growers, a fledgling cannabis cultivation company on the Channel Island of Jersey. Green Island Growers is now also partnered with JMCC, a Jamaican cultivator which supplies the British medical trial Project 2021. The goal now of both firms is to further supply the project as well as Jersey-based and mainland residents with medical cannabis (a minuscule market which is flat), as well as supposedly export to Europe, which is unrealistic given Brexit’s new regulatory reality. Green Island Growers has also been profiled in Kraut Invest.
Even more bizarrely, although of course all of these facts could be completely coincidental, Green Island Grower’s corporate logo has a strong resemblance to Juicy Fields, and their current CEO, Neel Sahai is listed on the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists “Offshore Leaks Data” website. Data on Sahai is in the Panama Papers files, although as the website states, this is not in and of itself proof of criminal behaviour. Indeed, his previous accounting experience includes a tenure at a highly rated firm.
Cannavigia: One of the other companies whose name comes up in the rather incestuous mix of all of this is Swiss IT and compliance tracking firm Cannavigia – which is also associated both with Booklin and has been profiled in Kraut Invest multiple times.
They are also repeat sponsors of the ICBC conference.
Given the fact that Cannavigia was just awarded the Swiss recreational cannabis trial tracking compliance contract in Basel, Olofsson believes it is precisely Booklin’s presence as an advisor to the company, beyond his experience as a grower and GMP expert that demonstrates, at minimum, his liability in the Juicy Fields case, even if it is “just” incompetence or gross negligence, both of which are problematic from a legal point of view.
What Were Lisa Haag’s Other Connections?
According to the information given to the Olofsson litigation team, beyond her multiple interactions with and around people associated directly with the company, Haag had many other connections with the company, making her a facilitator.
She apparently worked directly for Juicy Fields at some point, although in what capacity it is still unclear.
She also, in her role as a strategic advisor to the ICBC conference, remained silent about her knowledge of the fraud for at least four months before the conference in 2022.
Even more bizarrely, she denied any involvement in the story about Juicy Fields, written by Michael Knodt, also a long-time colleague and Berlin-based cannabis journalist when questioned about the same in front of Alex Rogers in Croatia during a pitch by Rogers to several rap artists to invest in a new cannabis cultivation project in Slovenia, where Rogers apparently now resides.
After the story about the association of con man and fake German aristocrat Stefan Graf late in the fraud, essentially as the masterminds were preparing for the first exit, was published in Kraut Invest, both Haag and Knodt contacted the Olofsson litigation team, demanding that a properly credited link to the story on the litigation website be taken down. We obviously refused.
It is the position, however of the Olofsson litigation team that the ”Graf story” is a largely insignificant development, and indeed has been used by the new iteration of the fraud, the Juicy Fields DAO, to claim that ”Graf stole our business.” This is a ridiculous claim in the first instance as there was never anything but a Ponzi scheme to steal. Additionally, it is also clear that Graf appears to have been brought in as the founding masterminds were preparing for the first exit. This would confirm both his statements and those of Willem van der Merwe, the final public CEO. As do documents showing that there was at least an intention to bring the company into some kind of compliance as well as pay outstanding BaFin fines.
According to Olofsson, it is clear that Haag knew the company was fraudulent, but appears now to want to cover up the same by engaging in a series of actions, including against Olofsson’s clients that can only be described as attacks.
For all of these reasons, Lisa Haag is on Olofsson’s list of facilitators.