E - retailer cigarette and vaping Juul is in the middle of a lawsuit alleging that one million contaminated devices were knowingly shipped to customers.
As first reported by BuzzFeed, the lawsuit filed in US court has been filed by Siddharth Breja, a former vice president of global economics.
Breja , who worked for Juul from May 2018 to March 2019, claims he was fired after protesting the sale of expired e-cigarettes .
Court documents state that the matter was brought to the attention of former CEO Kevin Burns, who was replaced by KC Crosthwaite in September.
According to the complaint, Burns allegedly stated that half of his customers are drunk and vaping like “mo-fos.”
A month later, Breja apparently learned of the contaminated batch of mint-flavored e-liquid. The kits , equivalent to about a million, were shipped to retailers and later likely ended up in the hands of customers.
The former director claims that while he was asked to charge the supplier due to the contaminants, the public was not informed due to the potential loss of billions of dollars in sales and the subsequent impact on Juul.
A week later, Breja was fired.
The trial came at the same time that Juul confirmed 500 layoffs by the end of 2019, a large number of which involve company executives.
Despite rapid growth, the company is rethinking its business model, in part due to pressure from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to remove unflavored tobacco liquids, including mint, from the market.
In October, Juul announced the withdrawal of flavors such as mango, cream, fruit and cucumber, as well as eliminating all broadcast, print and digital advertising in the United States.
