Marijuana Dispensary Owner Hid $1.15 Million From The IRS: Authorities

BLOOMFIELD, MI — A Bloomfield man was found guilty by a federal jury of using his marijuana dispensary to evade taxes and obstruct the IRS, causing the agency to lose more than $1 million, according to authorities.

Ryan Richmond owned and ran Relief Choices in Warren, authorities said. From 2011 to at least 2014, the dispensary paid many of its operating expenses in cash and routed customer credit card payments through an unrelated bank account to hide the business’ gross receipts, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2015 and 2016, Richmond misled investigators about his knowledge of, role in and profits from the dispensary, causing a tax loss to the IRS of over $1.15 million, authorities said Monday.

Richmond is set to be sentenced Dec. 13 and faces up to five years in prison for each tax evasion count, three years for obstructing the IRS and one year for willful failure to file a tax return, according to the department. He also faces restitution, monetary penalities and supervised release, authorities said.