Montu is Australia’s biggest medicinal cannabis company, and made almost $100 million in revenue in 2023.
An investigation by The Age, published earlier this month, revealed the company was also embroiled in legal controversy.
In April, the Therapeutic Goods Administration commenced Federal Court action against Montu, alleging the company had unlawfully advertised medicinal cannabis.
As part of that legal action, an affidavit accused Montu of operating an illegal referral program, by paying $50 to customers for sharing their story and a link with a friend. Such referral schemes are illegal, and Montu denies it operated one.
The affidavit, which is a restricted court document, was accidentally released by the court to investigative journalist Clay Lucas.
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“It’s clear the publishers … have used to their advantage information they ought not have received,” Snaden said on Tuesday.
However, he accepted the argument by Larina Alick, executive counsel for The Age, that much of that information was contained in other court documents that were freely accessible to the public.
And some of the information within the affidavit was taken from online forum Reddit, and remained online, Alick had told the court on Monday afternoon.
Montu’s lawyers had argued the publication of the material was likely to affect the judge’s decision-making in their ongoing legal action with the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
It was clear the reporting of the affidavit was “unambiguously prejudicial” to Montu, Snaden said.
However, that did not mean the reporting was prejudicial to the proper administration of justice in Montu’s court action with the TGA, he said.
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