Rapper Xzibit is facing a new lawsuit from his ex-wife and this time the fight is over a marijuana brand tied to his name and business empire.
Krista Joiner, who was married to the “Pimp My Ride” star for years, is suing him in federal court and claiming he cut her out of a valuable weed company they built while they were together.
The stakes are high, with hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly at stake.
Krista says Xzibit used a tangle of companies and trademark filings to lock down control of a cannabis brand without giving her the share she deserves.
The battle centers on the Brass Knuckles brand, a cannabis line publicly associated with Xzibit that launched in 2016. Joiner says the brand was created while they were married and qualifies as community property under California law.
According to the complaint, she was the driving force behind the brand’s rise. Joiner claims she handled branding, packaging, product development, marketing, hiring, sales systems and daily operations.
Sales reportedly reached tens of millions of dollars, with internal valuations climbing past $100 million within a few years.
In February 2021, Joiner filed for divorce in Los Angeles County and she claims that filing triggered an automatic court order barring either spouse from transferring marital property without consent or court approval.
Joiner says Xzibit ignored the order and claims that in December 2022, the rap star assigned three federally registered Brass Knuckles to a company called Hero Brands and that she never approved the transfer.
Months later, the lawsuit says, the same trademarks were sold again through a separate asset deal, even though they had already been transferred. Joiner alleges the transactions were structured to appear legitimate while keeping ownership within a small insider circle connected to Xzibit.
Joiner’s says Hero Brands is controlled by business partners who already had interests in the brand. She says those involved knew the trademarks were marital property and knew the divorce restrictions were active.
Despite that, the lawsuit claims, Hero Brands continued to sell products and present itself as the rightful owner.
Joiner says Xzibit is trying to erase her role in the company’s founding and cut her out of a share of the brand’s massive earnings, which reportedly have soared past more than $1 million a month.
She is asking a judge to unwind the trademark transfers, restore ownership, correct the trademark records and stop Hero Brands from using the name.
