Report: Mark Messier loses $500K investment in Alberta cannabis company

Contributing Writer

Tue, Dec 15, 2020, 12:14 p.m.·2 min read

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 08: Former Rangers player and captain Mark Messier speaks to the media during a special 1994 Stanley Cup Anniversary event prior to the game between the New York Rangers and the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden on February 8, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) — Former Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers legend Mark Messier is filing a lawsuit against an Alberta-based cannabis company for a lost investment worth $500,000. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)

Former Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers great Mark Messier stated that he lost a $500,000 investment in an Alberta-based cannabis company, TSN’s Rick Westhead reports.

Messier invested in Destiny Bioscience and is now filing a lawsuit against CEO Ed Moroz, alleging that the company used his celebrity status to gain “instant credibility” with other investors.

According to Messier’s claim, he is one of the greatest hockey players in history, former NY Rangers captain, 6X Stanley Cup winner, and among “the most famous celebrities in New York."
"His investment & endorsement would therefore give Destiny and Moroz instant credibility…”
— Rick Westhead (@rwesthead) December 15, 2020

“Destiny was not a sure thing. Quite the opposite. It was a worthless company propped up by nothing more than Moroz’s grandiose promises,” Messier stated in the lawsuit.

Messier: “Moroz ...represented that the investment was a sure thing—Messier could not lose money on it. Messier ultimately agreed to invest … but only on the condition that Moroz do more than tell him it was a sure thing."
— Rick Westhead (@rwesthead) December 15, 2020

Messier alleges he was granted a personal guarantee that he wouldn’t lose money upon purchasing 125,000 shares at $1.25. However, the business failed miserably and Destiny was placed in receivership in May 2020 after amassing $42 million in debt, with their state-of-the-art facilities in Nisku, Alberta placed for sale.

One of the most decorated players in hockey history, Messier rose to prominence with the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980s, winning five Stanley Cups, the last of which happened after Wayne Gretzky was infamously traded to the Los Angeles Kings. Messier was traded to the New York Rangers in 1991 and was instrumental in the Rangers’ 1994 Stanley Cup win, which broke a 54-year drought for the franchise. A 15-time All-Star, Messier was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007.

Neither Messier or Destiny Bioscience have publicly commented on the lawsuit at the time of this filing.

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