Michigan Marijuana Dispensary Owner Convicted of Tax Evasion and Obstructing the IRS

September 11, 2023, By Anita Johnson-Brown

A  man from Michigan named Ryan Richmond has been found guilty by a federal jury in Detroit of evading federal income taxes and obstructing the IRS.

Richmond owned and managed a marijuana dispensary called Relief Choices, LLC in Warren, Michigan. He paid the expenses of the dispensary in cash and routed customer credit card payments through an unrelated third-party bank account to hide the actual gross receipts of his business. He also misled the IRS by lying to investigators and an IRS auditor examining his individual income taxes about his involvement in the operation and the profits he gained from it. Richmond caused a tax loss to the IRS of over $1.15 million.

Richmond is facing a 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. He will also be subjected to supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. The sentencing will take place on December 13, and a federal district court judge will decide his sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The announcement was made by Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. The case was investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation, and it is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Mark McDonald and Christopher P. O’Donnell of the Tax Division.

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