Former High Times Chairman Pleads Guilty to Fraud

The OG cannabis publication was destroyed by Adam Levin and his cronies.

The founder and chairman of Hightimes Holding Corp., the company created to take over High Times magazine and other assets, including the famed Cannabis Cups, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges over a scheme to defraud investors of more than $6 million. Adam Levin will appear in court tomorrow, Jan. 17, 2025, to enter the plea.

According to the Department of Justice, Levin participated in a scheme to pay over $150,000 to an investment newsletter analyst who promoted Hightimes’ stock, boosting financial interest to the tune of at least $6 million from unwitting investors who were unaware that the favorable articles in the newsletter, Palm Beach Ventures, had been paid for.

Levin entered into a sham marketing agreement with Palm Beach Ventures to conceal the scheme, and routed the payments through a Canadian bank to a shell company in Canada. Palm Beach Ventures promoted Hightimes’ securities offering in 2020 while falsely stating, “Neither the Palm Beach Research Group nor its affiliates receive compensation for bringing this deal to you,” Levin’s plea agreement states.

Levin also admitted that he lied to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission when he denied knowing that he entered into a “pay-for-play arrangement.” Federal law requires full and public disclosure from anyone who has received payment — directly or indirectly — from an issuer for publishing, publicizing or circulating any advertisement or communication that describes the issuer’s security offered for sale.

I wrote about the end of High Times last summer, when the website went dark and it was reported that the legacy brand was being sold off for parts:

Rumors had been swirling for ages about the inevitable fall of the company after it was sold to an investment team in 2017. I was working at the mag as culture editor at the time; I wasn’t privy to the details of the sale, but there wasn’t a single staffer I spoke with who felt hopeful about the handoff. The magazine had endured for 40-plus years, the Cannabis Cups were a moneymaking machine, legalization was rolling out state by state, everyone was thrilled about the impending Green Rush — but the new ownership was walking around kicking the tires. I was called into a meeting with a new supervisor, who gestured at me a lot with his vape pen while telling me I needed to learn SEO. There was no fucking way I was going to learn SEO. I left his office knowing my days at the company were numbered.

After I got the call offering me two weeks’ severance, I stayed on good terms with the editorial staff. I occasionally wrote for the magazine, and the VP of content offered me as much space as I wanted to write for the website. It was strange and sad to watch HT slowly crumble as the new owners shut down editorial, pumped the Cups for cash by selling judges’ kits (this was especially horrifying for people who were concerned about the competition’s legitimacy), and launched a line of weed products and dispensaries. They broke a generation of stoners’ hearts.

I’ve been forwarded the news of Levin’s guilty plea by countless folks this week. It’s nice to know that he’ll serve some time for his crimes — supposedly he’s facing somewhere between 30 to 37 months in prison — but it doesn’t make anything any better. High Times should be towering over the legacy media landscape and celebrating 50 years in business as a print and digital publication. The Cannabis Cup should still be a meaningful competitive event. There should never have been a line of HT weed products — as we always said, Rolling Stone doesn’t put out music. Instead, it all went up in smoke after a bunch of short-sighted business bros got greedy. I said it then, and I’ll say it again — fuck corporate greed; High Times deserved better.

A badly done update to the 40th anniversary invitation. Ugh.