Have you ever heard of Desert Payroll Solutions? It is “a cannabis payroll company with cannabis payroll software and cannabis HR services” based in Palm Springs, says the company website’s metadata description.
According to the company’s Paycheck Protection Program application, it had a lot of employees back in 2020—185 of them. Based on those employees, the company was approved for a $1,370,560 loan on June 15, 2020, from the pandemic-era forgivable-funding program meant to keep people employed during the COVID-19 crisis.
It’s not clear whether the loan was forgiven, or paid off, or if it’s in the process of being paid off. A database of PPP loans maintained by journalism organization ProPublica says the status of the loan to Desert Payroll Solutions is “not disclosed.”
According to FederalPay.org, Desert Payroll Solutions was large, as far as payroll-services companies receiving PPP funding go: “Nationwide, 3,833 businesses in the ‘Payroll Services’ industry received a total of $572.25 million in PPP loans. … PPP recipients in this industry report an average of 16 employees, 91% lower than Desert Payroll Solutions LLC’s reported 185 employees, and received an average PPP loan of $149,296, 89% lower than this company’s loan of $1.37 million.”
Given all this, the Independent decided to look into Desert Payroll Solutions—but there’s not a lot of information online about the company. The “industry news” section on the company’s website hasn’t been updated since 2019. The company’s articles of organization on the California secretary of state’s website show that the company came to be in 2016; the sole manager listed on the most recent statement of information, as filed with the state, is Lauri Kibby.
We couldn’t easily find any DPS employees to talk to, because a search on LinkedIn for “Desert Payroll Solutions” returns no results. (By comparison, a search for “Coachella Valley Independent,” a company with two employees and about 20 independent contractors, returns 15 results in the “people” section alone.)
While the public-facing Desert Payroll Solutions website makes no mention of cannabis as of this writing, the site’s metadata description—which is picked up by search engines like Google—describes DPS as “a cannabis payroll company with cannabis payroll software and cannabis HR services.” It’s worth noting that according to SBA guidance, both “direct marijuana businesses” and “indirect marijuana businesses,” which “aid in the use, growth, distribution, enhancement or other development of marijuana,” were not eligible for PPP funds.
We had a lot of questions. Therefore, the Independent reached out to Kibby to ask her more about Desert Payroll Solutions and the PPP loan. We sent her emails, and left her voicemails at the number for Endourage, a Colorado-based company for hemp-based therapeutics where she is the co-founder and chairwoman. We received no response as of our press deadline.
The address listed for Desert Payroll Solutions on the company’s most recent statement of information, filed with the state on Aug. 29, 2022, is 3540 N. Anza Road, in Palm Springs. At that address is a warehouse complex, and in front of the property, there’s a free-standing sign that reads “KG Executive Plaza,” which bears the logo of a business called Kings Garden Inc. (KGI).
Kings Garden is a cannabis company. The KGI website includes a mission statement which says, in part, “Founded in 2015 and based in Coachella Valley, Kings Garden Inc. is California’s preeminent cannabis cultivation, processing, distribution and manufacturing company, specializing in premium grade boutique products at an unrivaled commercial scale.”
The corporate database Crunchbase says about Kings Garden: “Now one of the largest producers in California, Kings Garden prides itself on having organized a highly experienced cannabis management and operations team, while being fully compliant and licensed across the state of California.”
Kibby, on her LinkedIn page, lists herself as the co-founder of Kings Garden Inc., with her tenure at the company lasting from June 2015 to December 2021. Kings Garden and Desert Payroll Solutions have something else in common besides Kibby and the location: Michael King. He’s listed as the CEO of DPS on the company’s most recent statement of information filing, and he lists himself as the principal CEO of Kings Garden Inc. on his LinkedIn page.
In October, MJBizDaily reported that Kings Garden was having financial issues: “In July, privately held Kings Garden—headquartered in Palm Springs and a holder of cultivation, manufacturing and distribution licenses—defaulted on $2.3 million in rent and related fees owed to Innovative Industrial Properties (IIP), a San Diego-based real estate investment trust (REIT) that’s a major player in cannabis, regulatory filings first cited by a Twitter user reveal. A subsequent lawsuit filed by IIP—which leases more than 8.5 million square feet of commercial real estate to some of the nation’s biggest cannabis companies—against Kings Garden was settled out of court on Sept. 11 ‘to the mutual satisfaction of both parties,’ according to more recent filings.”
Kibby is a well-known figure in the Coachella Valley due to her community involvement. She volunteers her time as the vice chair of the DAP Health board of directors, and she previously served as a board member at the Mizell Senior Center.
On the business side, she’s quite busy. According to her LinkedIn profile, she’s a managing partner of CDI Ventures LLC, which she started in 2009, and she founded real estate-development company Selene International LLC in 2013. As mentioned above, she’s the co-founder and chairwoman of Endourage.
She’s also the developer of the stalled Dream Hotel project. Back in November 2017, Kibby staged a ground-breaking and splashy press event for the project near the Palm Springs Convention Center, telling the audience the project would be completed by the end of 2019. Last summer, Kibby made the rounds to assure residents the hotel would indeed happen, after the city of Palm Springs put her and several other developers of stalled hotel projects on notice. Deputy City Manager Flinn Fagg confirmed that legal action could be taken by the city if the Dream Hotel doesn’t materialize soon.
Late last year, Kibby became involved with yet another project: On Dec. 5, the Independent received a press release calling attention to the launch of the “PickleClub” project.
“An ownership group, led by local entrepreneur Lauri Kibby announced today that a new indoor pickleball facility and social club—PickleClub, is targeting a June opening in Palm Springs,” the release began. “The group is deep into discussions with the Planning Commission (of the city of Palm Springs) and anticipates breaking ground in April. The group has its sights set on national expansion after the Palm Springs launch.”
As Kibby works on the PickleClub project, questions remain regarding some of her other business projects, including the languishing Dream Hotel project—and Desert Payroll Solutions, with its 185 employees as of 2020, and its $1.37 million PPP loan.
