By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-06-10 20:06:01 | Updated at 2026-06-11 19:13:04
23 hours ago
Her loan went up in smoke.
A felonious former celebrity photographer-turned New York City cannabis shop owner allegedly treated a $1.5 million business loan like her personal piggy bank — blowing thousands on travel and lavish meals while getting high at the shop and having sex with a customer, according to a new law suit.
Jennifer Tzar — who won funding for her Soho-base dispensary after she was jailed for selling weed illegally in 2011 — is accused of misspending $230,000 of the loan, including on her personal rent and a London spa treatment, according to the suit filed by her lending firm, Fire Escape.
Those allegations include that Tzar gave nearly $22,000 of the loan to her ex-husband to create a “bespoke” clothing store, and handed over $11,000 to her now- ex-boyfriend to do photography and bankrolled her daughter to the tune of $12,000, according to court papers.
In total, the lender claims she spent nearly $78,000 of the loan money on friends and family.
“It is not clear why this was necessary for a cannabis dispensary,” the filing states.
According to the papers, she allegedly also had illegal “out of state” marijuana at the store and “has frequently drunk wine and smoked cannabis while working” there, according to the court documents.
The filing also claims Tzar “engaged in sexual activity with at least one store customer on the premises” and used “repeated inappropriate sexual language” with employees.
“This risks serious legal consequences for the store,” the court papers state.
Her alleged bad behavior came to light during a bitter arbitration fight between Tzar and Fire Escape, which is now trying to enforce a clause allowing them to buy the weed business for just $1, citing fraud and scandal.
Fire Escape CEO Maxwell Heckler, 27, recently opened his own weed shop in the East Village under the Fire Escape brand — and Tzar claims he’s attempting a hostile takeover of her cannabis license.
“[Maxwell] has spent more than two years attempting to manufacture a default, seize control of a successful New York cannabis business, and obtain ownership of a license it was never eligible to hold,” Tzar said in her own Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.
Tzar says she recently discovered that Maxwell’s lawyer, Paolo Cammarota, was married to the attorney who previously represented her while the loan was being negotiated — a major conflict of interest that she claims resulted in her lawyer feeding info to the man who’s now trying to take over her shop.
Tzar — a former fashion photographer busted on felony possession of 10 pounds of pot discovered when her SoHo apartment building caught fire a decade ago — is now asking a Manhattan Supreme Court judge to disqualify Cammarota, claiming he and his wife hid their marriage.
Tzar photographed legends like David Bowie, Ozzy Osbourne, Bruce Springsteen and Snoop Dogg, and shot campaigns for major brands, including Levi’s and Lancôme in the early 2000s.
The lender’s claims “demand relies on a fictional narrative that collapses under even the most basic scrutiny,” Tzar’s filing says, calling the lender’s case “legally and factually unsustainable.”
She says Cabrera-Cammarota steered her toward Heckler without disclosing any preexisting ties, and changed the terms of the deal from a straight-forward equity agreement into a predatory loan, the lawsuit claims.
“Throughout the engagement, Ms. Cabrera-Cammarota used only her maiden name ‘Cabrera’ or ‘Jennifer Cabrera’ in her communications with me,” Tzar said. “I was not aware that she was married to any other lawyer, and I was not aware of the name ‘Cabrera Cammarota PLLC.’”
Cammarota denied the claims — including that his wife is his law partner.
Tzar claims that Fire Escape’s embedded personnel — who were paid a staggering $10,000 a month, per the loan agreement, and included Heckler — tried to shove her out of her biz months before her doors opened in December 2023.
Their conduct “went well beyond the roles I understood them to hold,” including Heckler allegedly calling himself the dispensary’s CFO, attempting to change bank passwords, accessing security cameras and tried to circumvent her access to her then-attorney, Cabrera-Cammarota.
Tzar claims that Fire Escape even intervened to block her pal, musician and “The Simpsons” theme composer, Danny Elfman, from investing another $50,000 in the shop.
Additionally, Tzar claims Cabrera-Cammarota’s approved every expense as legit – including the ones her husband now cites as fraud — in prior court filings.
“The facts will show that this is not a case of default; it is a case of lender misconduct, bad-faith leverage, and an attempted unlawful takeover of a thriving, woman-owned New York cannabis business,” her suit says.
