Court documents referred to about 160 full-time JWC employees; Steinberg said some have since been let go as they “rightsized” the business to match current production levels. “Our intention is to grow the business, and employ more and hire more people.”

One of the things that Trichome liked about JWC when it first invested in the firm in 2019 was its large, indoor primary growing facility, the former Lear Corp. plant at 530 Manitou Dr. That type of space “is capable of producing a higher-quality product,” Ruscetta said.

According to Trichome, JWC had invested $60 million over the years in building the business; roughly $20 million to $25 million was in hard assets, Ruscetta said.

But despite those investments, court documents show JWC was floundering financially. In approving an application for creditor protection, Justice Glenn Hainey described JWC as “cash flow negative since its inception” and reliant on equity and debt financing for funding.

Trichome Financial and another lender, Lind Global Macro Fund, were owed a total of about $11.4 million, while more than four dozen unsecured creditors were owed roughly $7.9 million. With few exceptions, the majority of those creditors won’t see a cent as the restructuring process cleans the financial slate.

“It’s very unfortunate,” Steinberg said. “When you make investments or supply goods, there’s risk involved. Sometimes it just doesn’t go well, and…