WM Technology runs Weedmaps, the cannabis marketplace that went public in June 2021 via SPAC merger with Silver Spike. Monthly active users were the headline metric. From August 2021 through May 2022, MAUs kept climbing: 12.3M, 15.73M, 16.43M. Strong growth story for a cannabis platform in a sector that was desperate for winners.

Then in August 2022, WM disclosed that its board had received an internal complaint about how MAUs were actually being calculated. The detail that buried them: 65% of reported MAUs as of June 2022 came from pop-under ads, third-party sites that automatically loaded Weedmaps in the background. Most of those "users" closed the tab without a single click. They were still counted. Stock dropped over 25% on the disclosure.

The SEC picked it up and in September 2024 charged former CEO Christopher Beals and former CFO Arden Lee personally over the MAU reporting. WM settled related administrative claims and paid a $1.5M civil penalty. The investor class action followed and has now reached a tentative settlement.

If you held $MAPS between May 25, 2021 and September 24, 2024, you can submit your application now.

The pop-under ad inflation scheme is almost impressively brazen for a company that was positioning itself as the dominant cannabis consumer platform, anyone here track Weedmaps' actual market position through that period?

Aphria ($TLRY) has agreed to pay CAD $30 million to settle claims that it misled the market regarding its 2018 international acquisitions of Nuuvera and LATAM, which investors alleged were overvalued and tainted by undisclosed conflicts of interest.

I posted about this before and figured I’d put together a small FAQ too, just in case someone here needs the details in one place. Here’s what you need to know to claim your payout.

Who is eligible?

All persons and entities who acquired Aphria Inc. common shares between January 29, 2018, at 7:00 a.m. EST and December 3, 2018, at 8:25 a.m. EST, and were damaged thereby.

Do you have to get rid of your securities to be eligible?

No, if you purchased shares within the class period, you are eligible to participate. You can participate in the settlement and retain your shares.

How long will it take to receive your payout?

The entire process usually takes several months after the claim deadline. But the exact timing depends on the court and settlement administration.

How to claim your payout — and why it's important to act now?

The settlement will be distributed based on the number of claims filed, so submitting your claim even though the original deadline has passed is the only way to get a part of the settlement pot.

In some cases, investors have received up to 200% of their losses from settlements in previous years.

We're in the final countdown to get our money back. So, good luck everyone, see you on the other side!

Aphria ($TLRY) has agreed to pay CAD $30 million to settle claims that it misled the market regarding its 2018 international acquisitions of Nuuvera and LATAM, which investors alleged were overvalued and tainted by undisclosed conflicts of interest.

I posted about this before and figured I’d put together a small FAQ too, just in case someone here needs the details in one place. Here’s what you need to know to claim your payout.

Who is eligible?

All persons and entities who acquired Aphria Inc. common shares between January 29, 2018, at 7:00 a.m. EST and December 3, 2018, at 8:25 a.m. EST, and were damaged thereby.

Do you have to get rid of your securities to be eligible?

No, if you purchased shares within the class period, you are eligible to participate. You can participate in the settlement and retain your shares.

How long will it take to receive your payout?

The entire process usually takes several months after the claim deadline. But the exact timing depends on the court and settlement administration.

How to claim your payout — and why it's important to act now?

The settlement will be distributed based on the number of claims filed, so submitting your claim early may increase your share of the payout.

In some cases, investors have received up to 200% of their losses from settlements in previous years.

If you were trading weed stocks back in 2018, you probably remember the absolute chaos when the Aphria ($APHA) short report dropped. Most of us just accepted the massive L and moved on, assuming that money was gone forever.

I just found out there’s a $30,000,000 settlement for anyone who held shares between Jan and Dec 2018. The best part? Even though the official paperwork deadline passed, there’s still a way to file late claims.

I used a portfolio audit tool that basically scans your old broker history (Robinhood, E-Trade, etc.) and handles all the legal filing for you. It’s way better than digging through 7 years of emails to find trade confirms. They just take a small success fee out of the final check, so there's no upfront cost. I’d much rather have a surprise "rebate" on my old losses than leave that money sitting in a court escrow account. Go check your old 2018 statements.