December 24, 2025

Tyson and wrestling legend Ric Flair are suing Carma for damages, attorneys’ fees, and other associated costs.

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Two legendary sports figures, boxing’s Mike Tyson and wrestling’s Ric Flair, have filed a lawsuit against former executives and a shareholder of Carma, alleging fraud, breach of contract, and other claims related to cannabis businesses that use their likenesses.

According to Front Office Sports, the lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Illinois By Tyson, Flair, Carma, and LGNDS alleging that Chad Bronstein, Adam Wilks, Nicole Cosby, and James Case were involved in a “brazen RICO conspiracy involving criminal wire fraud, embezzlement, money laundering, and extortion, as well as securities fraud and shameless self-dealing that enriched the Defendants to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.”

The plaintiffs request a jury trial and more than $50 million in damages, attorneys’ fees, and other associated costs.

Bronstein was formerly Carma’s president and chairman; Wilks was the company’s CEO; and Cosby served as the chief legal and licensing officer. Case is a shareholder in the company. The cannabis products named after Tyson (Tyson 2.0) and Flair (Ric Flair Drip) were distributed by Carma and LGNDS.

The lawsuit states, “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.”

The former executives have been accused of selling licensing rights they were not authorized to sell under agreements with the athletes. Wilks allegedly had an undisclosed “kickback” deal with vape maker DomPen, where he received “concealed payments in exchange for turning a blind eye to DomPen’s unauthorized use of CARMA’s intellectual property.”

The defendants deny the accusations and accuse the plaintiffs of trying to intimidate them in what they refer to as a “shakedown.”

“The complaint is fiction dressed up as a lawsuit,” Jonathan Cyrluk, the attorney for Bronstein and Cosby, told the media outlet in a written statement. “Before filing, the plaintiffs tried to intimidate my clients with settlement demands that read more like a shakedown than a legal claim—demanding millions of dollars and attempting to force others to surrender their Carma shares.” 

“My clients won’t be bullied and are prepared to knock out this meritless lawsuit in court.”

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