Mystery surrounds the sudden disappearance of “Dr Green” from the Cannabis Expo. Ricardo Capone, CTO of  ‘Dr Green’, left his Sandton hotel room accompanied by a group of rough-looking individuals on the eve of the Expo, effectively pulling the plug on the Californian company's bid to launch its cannabis NFT's in South Africa.

Dr Green launched in South Africa with much fanfare at a function in Johannesburg on 17 May 2025, seeking to sell its concept of a digital entry into world-wide medical cannabis trading. It’s public face was Ricardo Capone, Chief Technical Officer, who seeks to be a “leader in the revolution for legalizing the use of cannabis on the gobal stage”.

Capone was due to speak on the Cannabis Expo main stage on Friday, 30 May 2025 and Dr Green had a well-lit stand that was to be used for marketing the company’s digital token scheme to South African punters.  However, he was a no-show on the Friday morning, leaving organizers baffled as to his whereabouts.

Then the stories trickled in. Capone had been visited late on Thursday night in his hotel room by a group of intimidating-looking men. “More like the Russian mafia than SAPS” were the Expo corridor whispers. “It’s said they were looking for money that was owed”.  Capone was reported to have left his hotel room in their company, and then disappeared.

The Dr Green stand was all lit up on Friday morning but unstaffed. This was in stark contrast to the glitzy affair reported on Facebook, where Dr Green is seeking to enter the South African medicinal cannabis market bypassing regulatory requirements by using digital tokens as a value of exchange.

Dr Green was launched internationally last year by British-Jamaican entrepreneur and  ‘medical cannabis millionaire’ Maxmillion White, with the assistance of Capone’s digital marketing skills.  

Dr Green's website describes Capone's skills set as such: His work experience spans various industries and roles, including management positions and technical expertise in web and graphic design, VOIP technologies, networking, and infrastructure. His skills in coding, CRM development, and IT applications are particularly noteworthy. Ricardo has a passion for the cannabis industry and seeks to be a leader in the revolution for legalising the use of cannabis on the global stage..o be a leader in the revolution for legalising the use of cannabis on the global stage..

How does Dr Green Work? In its own words off its website.

Here's how it works: You mint your Digital Key as an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain directly from our marketplace. This key serves as a secure authentication token, granting NFT holders backend access to our fulfillment center. Using your key, you can connect to our decentralized application to unlock a powerful CRM system where you can add clients, manage your digital dispensary, and build your cannabis business.

Our regulated company takes care of everything for you. From verifying client eligibility with initial criteria checks, conducting KYC processes, facilitating doctor consultations, and issuing prescriptions, we handle every step of onboarding your clients. Once verified, you can legally trade cannabis to your clients based on their location and prescribed dosing, while our team ensures direct delivery of orders to the end user. You'll never have to touch the product or manage the complex legalities associated with providing cannabis to patients.

As an NFT holder, you’re rewarded in ETH for every client you create and every order processed. All transaction history is securely stored on-chain, allowing you to track your growth, build a loyal clientele, and even list your NFT for sale later based on the value of your established client base and orders. This is your chance to join a regulated, global ecosystem that simplifies cannabis distribution and turns your NFT into a dynamic business tool.

Capone has been in South Africa for the past month trying to drum up enthusiasm in the local cannabis investment community with the Dr Green NFT’s.  He was in town to entice local celebs to endorse the blockchain cannabis distribution system.

But his ‘Noshow’ at the festival prompted a lot of comment that Dr Green looks like a new version of the Juicy Fields Ponzi scheme, a suspicion borne out on Reddit:

A user called Emmanyem said his investment club was interested but on deeper digging found that “Dr Green NFT has no credibility! Ricardo Capone who champions it has made up accolades with no depth or elaboration! Maximilian White, lots of articles about him online which are paid for media with tall claims. When broken down they cannot be substantiated only hearsay from articles which have are clearly pay to play.

Legitimate Club 8995 wrote that White’s real name is  “Louis Samson White, runs boiler rooms in Europe and sets up companies in the UK and Germany and takes out loans on them there’s a guy on TikTok that explains this.

He’s half Romanian and half English (Roma gypsy) lives in Dubai and has made a lot of money. Ricardo Capone (not his real name) is his cousin and wears a wig or hair system. This is most likely his last hooray before he disappears.

The precursor for this was Medicoin which failed but he made some money. He did open Blanco Beach club which failed miserably in Portugal and rumour has it that he gave Wayne Linekar money for one of his clubs in Ibiza. Stay well away from these guys”.

In the meantime, nobody seems to know the whereabouts of Ricardo Capone.

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