WARREN (WWJ) – The owner of a Metro Detroit marijuana dispensary has been found guilty in federal court of a number of charges, including evading federal income taxes and obstructing the IRS.
Ryan Richmond of Bloomfield, owner and operator of Relief Choices, LLC in Warren, caused a tax loss to the IRS of more than $1.15 million, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Richmond was found guilty by a federal jury in Detroit and will be sentenced in December.
Authorities say from 2011 until at least 2014, Richmond had Relief Choices pay its operating expenses extensively in cash, and routed customer credit card payments through an unrelated third-party bank account.
The DOJ says he did this “ to conceal his true business gross receipts.”
In 2015 and 2016, Richmond obstructed the IRS by misleading investigators – and particularly an IRS auditor examining his individual income taxes – about his knowledge of, role in and profits derived from his Relief Choices operation, according to the DOJ.
Officials say Richmond faces a statutory maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count of tax evasion, three years in prison for obstructing the IRS and one year in prison for the willful failure to file a tax return count. Authorities did not say how many counts of tax evasion he was charged with.
Richmond also faces a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
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