A cannabis entrepreneur told prosecutors Friday that he tried to rebuff efforts by Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins to buy into the marijuana dispensary company he co-founded before it went public, saying he “didn’t think it was something I should do.”
“I didn’t think it was right because he was an elected official that we were doing a program with. I didn’t think it was something I thought was possible, or something we should do,” testified Frank Perullo, president and co-founder of Ascend Wellness, during the federal extortion trial of Tompkins in Boston federal court.
Perullo, of Lexington, is the government’s key witness, who accepted immunity in exchange for providing testimony, lawyers revealed in opening statements Tuesday…