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This story was produced in partnership with The Assembly. One of the country's best-known hemp companies is suing North Carolina's Asterra Labs, led by state Rep. John Bell, alleging he used his influence to pressure the firm for $1.6 million after a business deal collapsed. Why it matters: Though the federal lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of North Carolina by Texas-based MC Nutraceuticals, does not detail how Bell did that, it provides a rare window into the ultracompetitive, fast-growing, and often chaotic hemp industry — and the intricate political webs businesses are weaving as they fight to stay ahead of regulations. - Everyone involved, from the parties to their lawyers, is connected to the upper echelons of state or federal politics.
Among the players: Bell, who simultaneously worked behind the scenes on hemp legislation in recent months while navigating an apparent falling-out with MC, is the chairman of North Carolina's powerful rules committee and the president of hemp company Asterra Labs. - Asterra is a subsidiary of Rise Capital, a private equity fund that the controversial former University of North Carolina board of governors chairman, Harry Smith, founded and runs.
- Alicia Jurney, the attorney for Asterra and Rise, has represented plaintiffs in some of the highest-profile cases in North Carolina in recent years, including one against then-House Speaker Tim Moore and another against Rockingham County Commissioner Kevin Berger, the Senate leader's son.
Driving the news: MC, run by father and son duo Jeffrey and Bret Worley, says it approached Asterra in December 2024 because of "Rep. Bell and Mr. Smith's powerful political networks." By June 2025, the complaint says, Bell and Smith threatened to use their "positions of power and influence" to throw the Worleys in jail over a $1.6 million debt. - Asterra has not filed its legal responses to the allegations. But documents Jurney provided to The Assembly and Axios paint a different picture of the dispute. In a June email, for example, the Worleys promised to make daily $50,000 payments to Asterra to rectify their debt, which, according to the documents, they then failed to do.
- The Worleys did not respond to requests for interviews. Their attorney declined to comment.
Of note: At its core, the lawsuit reflects a business dispute between two hemp companies over a contract gone bad. And Bell is not a named defendant. The big picture: A pitched legal battle could embarrass everyone involved. MC's inability to pay a relatively small debt — the company says in the complaint that it grossed $48 million in 2024 — could be seen as casting doubt on its standing as an industry leader. MC's portrayal of Asterra, meanwhile, depicts Bell as a failing businessman propped up by Smith's money and desperate for help. - Bell has championed his industry in the General Assembly, where lawmakers debate how to regulate a marketplace that Bell has called the "Wild, Wild West." In North Carolina, companies can manufacture, distribute, and sell intoxicating products to residents of any age, almost entirely unchecked. Most lawmakers say that needs to change, but they haven't agreed on how.
"I have an advantage because I'm in the room when all these decisions get made," Bell told a panel at the CHAMPS Trade Show in May 2024. "Which is not a bad place to be, by the way." - The moderator for that panel was Bret Worley, who appears to have a "personal relationship" with the daughter of President Trump's chief of staff, according to a July 1 letter from Asterra to MC.
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