新泽西州参议员拉杰·穆克吉（Raj Mukherji）据称招募身边的人，担任其实际上并不掌控的商店的社会公平权益“所有者”。他否认有不法行为，并称对这起诉讼“感到震惊”。
State Sen. Raj Mukherji allegedly recruited people from his circle to serve as social equity ‘owners’ of shops they did not truly control. He denies wrongdoing and was ‘stunned’ by the lawsuit.
新泽西州将大麻合法化时制定了相关规则，让少数族裔和女性拥有的企业及其他处于不利地位的申请人在许可证方面享有优先权。一项新诉讼指控，一名州议员将这项政策变成了一种商业模式。
When New Jersey legalized marijuana, it wrote rules that gave minority- and women-owned businesses and other disadvantaged applicants a head start on licenses. A new lawsuit alleges a state lawmaker turned that policy into a business model.
据其前幕僚长提交的诉讼称，民主党籍的新泽西州参议员拉杰·穆克吉在多个州的大麻销售点拥有权益。他招募政治圈中的人担任其实际上并不掌控的大麻商店的多数“所有者”，之后又与其他经营者轮换这些合伙人，使每个人都能声称享有该州的许可证优先权。
State Sen. Raj Mukherji, a Democrat who has had ownership interests in dispensaries in several states, recruited people from his political circle to serve as majority “owners” of pot shops they did not truly control, then swapped those partners with other operators so each could claim the state’s licensing preference, according to the lawsuit filed by his former chief of staff.
民主党政治顾问贾斯汀·绍哈姆（Justin Shoham）表示，自己就是纸面上挂名的那些人之一：他是新泽西州斯普林菲尔德一家大麻销售点的60%所有者。根据他提起的包含12项罪名的诉讼，该店实际上由一名全国性大麻行业高管和一家以穆克吉姓名缩写命名的管理公司经营；该公司后来给该店背上逾400万美元的债务，并在一年内将其关闭。他说，有人承诺给他18万美元购买其股份，但他从未拿到这笔钱。
Justin Shoham, a Democratic political consultant, says he was one of those names on paper: the 60% owner of a dispensary in Springfield, N.J., that, according to his 12-count lawsuit, was actually run by a national cannabis executive and a management company bearing Mukherji’s initials, who then saddled it with more than $4 million in debt and was shut down within a year. He says he was promised $180,000 for his stake and never got it.
他还说，他手中有一段穆克吉解释这一安排的录音。穆克吉是这个计划中所谓的“核心决策者”和“招募者”。
He also says he has Mukherji — the alleged “central decision-maker” and “recruiter” in the scheme — on tape explaining the arrangement.