Boxing legend Mike Tyson and wrestling icon Ric Flair are tag-teaming outside the ring, filing a massive lawsuit against former business partners in a cannabis venture that went up in smoke.
Tyson and Flair are suing former executives of the cannabis licensing company Carma HoldCo Inc. for over $50 million, alleging a “brazen RICO conspiracy” involving fraud and embezzlement.
Why Tyson Is Suing
Carma HoldCo is the parent company of both Mike Tyson’s cannabis brand, Tyson 2.0, and Ric Flair’s brand, Ric Flair Drip. Tyson has been a co-founder and brand visionary since inception and was appointed the company’s new chief executive officer in April 2025.
Filed in Illinois, the suit targets ex-Carma executives Chad Bronstein, Adam Wilks, Nicole Cosby, and one individual shareholder.
Attorneys for Tyson and Flair accuse the group of a full-blown RICO conspiracy packed with wire fraud, embezzlement, money laundering, extortion, securities fraud, and self-dealing.
The 76-page lawsuit claims the former executives misused company funds for personal expenses such as private jet travel, yacht and home expenses for Bronstein, a mortgage payment for Wilks, and other lavish expenditures. Attorneys for the defendants have rejected these claims, stating that the complaint is “fiction dressed up as a lawsuit.”
The company started out as lucrative and partnership was going well, but amidst the gummies, there was a sour aftertaste — the allegations of the defendants using the business as a “personal piggy bank.”
The lawsuit claims the execs enriched themselves by “tens of millions” through blatant misuse of company funds, Daily Mail reported.
“Throughout their time at CARMA, Bronstein and Wilks treated CARMA as their own personal piggy bank, using more than $1 million to pay for unauthorized personal travel on private jets, costs associated with Bronstein’s personal yacht, renovations to Bronstein’s personal residence, a mortgage payment for Wilks’ personal residence, and lavish entertainment expenditures for Wilks, including exorbitantly priced meals and travel expenditures, as well as excessive and unapproved compensation and bonuses,” read the filing.
Plaintiffs also claims Bronstein allegedly, without any approval, dropped $15,000 in company money on a high-end watch for Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay, according to Front Office Sports.
Wilks faces additional accusations of secretly selling licensing rights and pocketing a kickback from a vaporizer company after turning a blind eye to misuse of Carma’s intellectual property.
Bronstein, who has several lawsuits against him, has also been accused of misappropriating confidential information and that he was involved in unauthorized use of the company’s intellectual property (IP). In July 2025, Carma sued Bronstein and Cosby, accusing them of misappropriating confidential information related to the development of a Hulk Hogan-endorsed “Real American Beer” brand while still employed by Carma. Bronstein and Hogan later launched the product independently.
The former execs have all denied any wrongdoing, labeling the Tyson lawsuit meritless and exaggerated, going as far to say it is a pressure tactic to force their clients into quick settlements.
