Husband of Trulieve CEO Sentenced In Cannabis Industry Corruption Case

After being convicted in August of federal corruption charges for manipulating Florida’s system to gain an unfair advantage in the state’s fledgling medical cannabis industry, John “JT” Burnette was sentenced to three years in federal prison and fined $1.25 million last week, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. The Florida businessman, who is married to Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers, was convicted of using his relationship with Florida House Rep. Halsey Beshears (R), along with other “undisclosed conflicts of interest “to “keep out competitors.”

Additionally, prosecutors said Burnette used his “power and wealth to corrupt the political process.” Prosecutors asked for eight years due to the seriousness of the charges, the report says.

The case originally involved a longtime bribery scheme between Burnette, former Mayor and City Commissioner Scott Maddox and his business partner, Paige Carter-Smith. Maddox and Carter-Smith pleaded guilty and chose to work with prosecutors against Burnette. During the investigation, Burnette told undercover agents how he influenced Beshears to insert language into the Florida medical cannabis bill that “inserted a barrier to entry into the legislation that would benefit both Burnette and the Beshears family,” federal prosecutors said.

On the witness stand, Burnette distanced himself from the comments he made to undercover agents, claiming he was telling the agents what they wanted to hear and that they were pushing him to make the claim he had Beshears insert the 30-year language into the bill, the Democrat reports.

The 30-year rule required nurseries to be in business for 30 years before they could apply for a medical cannabis license, locking out many Black-owned and other small nurseries from Florida’s lucrative medical cannabis market.

Trulieve’s board released a statement after the sentencing concerning their CEO that said, “Our thoughts are with her at this time. She has done and is doing an outstanding job leading Trulieve and she continues to have our full support.” Company spokesperson Steve Vancore has consistently maintained that Burnette “had no formal involvement or participation in the formation of Trulieve, Inc.”

Burnette’s attorneys say they will appeal his conviction.