Cookies keeps selling a lifestyle, but the paperwork keeps selling a different story: courtrooms, conflicts, and the same names showing up like it’s a residency.
In the newest suit filed by NEDCO, LLC in Superior Court of the State of California, County of San Francisco, the targets are COOKIES SF LLC plus three people who, according to the complaint, weren’t just “around” the brand—they were positioned to steer it: Gilbert Milam (the public face), Parker Berling (the executive operator), and Matthew Barron (the venture guy with business tentacles). The complaint says Milam co-founded both the core licensing company and the “new” entity, and even signed key agreements on both sides—then used a big judgment against the legacy company as the convenient “welp, guess it’s over” excuse to terminate sublicenses and funnel the licensing business into Cookies SF.
Berling is accused of playing the hands-on role: allegedly using his company email to warn licensees they could only keep licensing through the end of the month and would need to sign with Cookies SF—basically directing traffic away from the company he owed duties to. The complaint also claims Berling (or an entity he controls) held the keys to valuable genetics/plants while refusing the company access—because nothing says “fiduciary” like allegedly locking the product in the garage and pocketing the house keys.
Barron’s role is framed as the “follow the money / follow the partnerships” subplot. The complaint describes him as founder and managing partner of 12/12 Ventures and alleges he’s not some neutral bystander—Milam and Berling are described as business partners with equity in a related general partner entity, tying them together outside the Cookies corporate structure. Then the filing drops two very specific allegations that read like they were written to make your eyebrows do the wave: first, a 12/12-controlled investment entity was allegedly issued $5 million of preferred stock in a 2023 Series A, but the $5 million was never transferred, and the complaint says the insiders didn’t seriously chase that money (or other allegedly unpaid investor commitments) even though collecting it could have changed the company’s solvency story overnight. Second, the complaint alleges Barron traveled to Canada in mid-November 2025 to meet Summit North—described “on information and belief” as a new backer for Cookies SF—while everything else was supposedly collapsing, which is either incredible timing or exactly the point. Add in that the filing itself references other litigation already pending involving Milam and Berling, plus arbitration activity tied to the termination, and you start to see why “Cookies” and “lawsuit” keep showing up together like they’re in a group chat.
