Julio Jones and Roddy White spent a lot of time working on grass. Not all that work involved football.
The former Atlanta Falcons teammates are at the center of a convoluted lawsuit that alleges fraud and money laundering involving the sale of marijuana on the black market. Jones, now with the Tennessee Titans, and White are being sued by California-based Genetixs LLC, which alleges the duo and other defendants made as much as $3 million per month from the illegal activity.
The lawsuit was first reported by Larry Brown Sports.
The civil complaint, filed July 21 in a California court, contends that a company that Jones and White are affiliated with, SLW Holdings, diverted “cannabis products from an otherwise legal cultivation and distribution operation” to black-market sales.
At the crux of the lawsuit, Jones and White backed out of a legal cannabis business in California. Instead, the defendants allegedly defrauded investors and “looted, removed, and misappropriated” Genetixs’ cannabis already produced to sell illegally.
Jones has since denied the allegations through his lawyer via The Tennessean.
“The vague allegations against SLW Holdings LLC and its members Roddy White and Julio Jones are meritless,” attorney Rafe Emanuel said in a statement issued to the newspaper. “In May, SLW obtained a temporary restraining order in a related civil case to prevent unlawful conduct involving Genetixs LLC. In reply, the defendants argued conspiracy theories that were not proven by evidence in court, nor were they substantiated before any agency.
“We look forward to again defending these conspiracy theories against my clients in court.”
Whether or not court is the next step remains to be seen. The legal process will surely play out, with the Titans monitoring the proceedings closely in relation to Jones. Per The Tennessean, the team has not issued a comment. Jones, traded to Tennessee in June after 10 years in Atlanta, told the paper it’s out of his hands.
"For me, my legal team is going to handle that," Jones said. "That's not the case (the allegations against me), but that's just for them (the legal team) to handle that."
Jones was not at practice Tuesday after suffering what was reported as a minor injury Monday at training camp.
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