Crime

The former head of Michigan’s medical cannabis licensing board has pleaded guilty to accepting $110,000 in bribes for industry licenses.

New Jersey hemp company Delta Technologies is suing the Massachusetts-based biotech firm Salzman Group, claiming the company operated a “Ponzi scheme” which utilized more than $700,000 it raised from the firm for its own projects.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week issued fraud charges against cannabis company American Patriot Brands, its CEO, and five others for allegedly funneling investor funds into personal accounts and expenses.

Alaska regulators seized cannabis products from Will’s World Extract after determining the products were manufactured using cannabis shipped from out-of-state.

Utah officials warned of a possible scam in a newspaper ad that erroneously suggested people could apply for a cannabis dispensary license.

Weeks after the resignation of Oregon’s top cannabis and alcohol regulator, the state’s Department of Justice announced it will investigate officials who allegedly diverted rare bottles of Kentucky bourbon for their own use.

Michigan officials warn there is an increasing “pattern in reported criminal activity” throughout the state related to cannabis delivery drivers.

Oklahoma City police are investigating a series of related burglaries at licensed cannabis grow sites throughout the city and surrounding area.

The alleged “straw” owner of the Oklahoma cannabis farm where a quadruple homicide occurred last November has been arrested.

Thieves made off with boxes of fake gummies and display packaging during a botched dispensary burglary last week in Portland, Maine.

South Florida police arrested a man yesterday who is suspected of murdering four people at an Oklahoma cannabis farm over the weekend.

Two men in Ohio have been indicted for charges stemming from unlawful securities practices and fraud in a fake medical cannabis and CBD oil manufacturing business. 

The SEC has formally charged Cronos and its former COO with fraud related to alleged accounting misconduct and filing false financial statements.

Another Oklahoma attorney has been charged for their alleged involvement in a medical cannabis licensing scheme. Two other attorneys were charged for the scheme earlier this year.

The case against former executives at CannTrust Holdings Inc. began Monday in the Ontario Court of Justice.

Prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York are looking to dismiss 378 cases that originally stemmed from 13 NYPD officers who have since been convicted of falsifying records and other crimes. 

Ascend Wellness Holdings’ CEO and Founder Abner Kurtin was arrested last week on domestic battery charges; he was later released on a $1,500 bond and given a stay-away order.

Two people were convicted in a cannabis-and-cattle Ponzi scheme last week on charges including conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and five counts of wire fraud; they are facing multiple decades in prison for the $650 million scam.

Five former cannabis operators in Santa Barbara, California have been charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, the unlawful cultivation and sale of marijuana, and perjury.

Two Oklahoma attorneys have been charged with falsifying records, cultivation of a dangerous substance, and multiple counts of conspiracy after allegedly putting their legal assistants’ names on more than 400 cannabis cultivation applications.

Helios Dayspring, ex-CEO of Natural Healing Center, was sentenced to 22 months for multiple felonies including bribery and filing a false tax return.

Tacoma and Seattle area adult-use cannabis retailers have been subject to a wave of crime and violence lately, due in part to the cash-only nature of the business.

Russian oligarch Andrey Muraviev was charged this week by U.S. officials with making illegal political contributions to curry favor with candidates who could help him acquire cannabis industry licenses.

A Washington bill that passed the state Senate unanimously last week would increase penalties for robbing licensed cannabis retailers.