Ex-Michigan House speaker, 3 others plead guilty in marijuana bribery probe

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Ex-Michigan House speaker, 3 others plead guilty in marijuana bribery probe

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Ex-Michigan House speaker, 3 others plead guilty in marijuana bribery probe
Apr. 06, 2023
By Jordyn Hermani and Simon Schuster


Rick Johnson, the former chair of Michigan’s now defunct Medical Marijuana Licensing Board, has pleaded guilty alongside three others as part of a public corruption probe surrounding the state’s system for regulating medical marijuana.

Johnson, a Republican who also served as speaker of the state House of Representatives from 2001 through 2004, has been charged with accepting bribes as part of his role on the marijuana board, said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten.

The board itself was responsible for, among other things, granting or denying licenses for a number of roles within the marijuana industry including growers, processors and provisioning centers.

Johnson is alleged to have accepted multiple bribes, more than $100,000 in cash and other benefits, while serving as board chairman.

“To be clear: Johnson accepted these bribes corruptly, which is to say that he accepted them with the understanding that these bribes were offered to influence him or to reward him for actions that he might take – mainly, to help the payers of the bribe obtain licenses,” Totten said.

Totten and Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Michigan James A. Tarasca made the announce early Thursday, April 6, outside the Charles E. Chamberlin Federal Building in Lansing.

Also named as part of the corruption scandal is Oakland County businessman John Dawood Dalaly, who Totten charged with the payment of bribes, as well as lobbyists Brian Pierce and Vincent Brown, both of whom were charged with conspiracy to commit bribery.

Dalaly’s plea agreement alleges he gave Johnson at least $68,000 in cash payments and other benefits to Johnson – including two private chartered flights from Michigan to Canada on a Learjet 35 and King Air 200 aircraft – by way of two companies which he operated.

Similarly, Pierce and Brown’s pleas note they “agreed among themselves and with others” tobribe Johnson, causing at least $42,000 “to flow to Johnson through various entities that they ran,” according to Totten.

In the case of Johnson and Dalaly, both 70, their charges are felonies punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine; for Pierce, 45, and Brown, 32, their charges are also felonies, but punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Totten added that each of the four have signed a plea agreement and have admitted guilt to each of their charges.

“The vast majority of public officials, both elected and appointed, are honest in their work committed to serving their fellow citizens,” Tarasca said. “Unfortunately, a small percentage abuse the public trust. ... Public corruption erodes public confidence and undermines the strength of our democracy.”

Documents filed in federal court Thursday detail a series of payments made to Johnson while he was chair of the medical marijuana licensing board from 2017 through early 2019. Johnson was alleged to have accepted $110,200 in “cash and benefits.”

In their capacity as lobbyists, Pierce and Brown are alleged to have paid Johnson thousands by “transferring client payments” from companies they controlled and sending the cash to the businesses set up by Johnson, JBJ Ranch, LLC; VM Enterprises, LLC and Common Cents Harvest Farms, LLC.

The filings said Johnson “provided valuable non-public information about the anticipated rules and operation of the board and assistance with license applications to representatives” to Dalaly, Pierce, Brown and others who paid Johnson while serving as chair.

It’s alleged Johnson voted to grant medical marijuana licenses for one of Dalaly’s companies alongside a company represented by both Pierce and Brown between July 2018 and April 2019, when serving as board chair. An executive order abolished the board in 2019, though Totten said its disbandment was “not relevant to what we’re doing.”

As part of the plea agreement, Johnson has agreed to repay all the $110,200 he is alleged to have accepted in bribes, but the deal does not specify whether he will serve time, and how long any sentence might be.

Prosecutors went on to write in the plea agreement they were not in agreement on what a prison sentence should be, if any. It only says prosecutors will decide whether to file a motion calling for a reduced sentence. The court can still choose to ignore the motion.

Plea hearings for the four, Totten said, are expected in the next one to two weeks though he declined to say if additional people would be charged.

He did note that all four have agreed to cooperate with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office as part of the investigation.

“Anytime that government officials take bribes, there is an obvious reason to question what happened and, certainly, there is reason to undermine the confidence of the people ... I suspect there may be more to follow up about what, in fact, the result of all this was,” Totten said. “Certainly, what I have described today should give anybody reason to question the process (and) what effect these payments of money had on the chair of the board, who was, essentially, serving as one of the key gatekeepers for the beginning of this fledgling industry.”

https://www.mlive.com/politics/2023/04/ ... probe.html

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Ex-Michigan House speaker, 3 others plead guilty in marijuana bribery probe

Post by roller24 »

No surprise here. Bribe Money has been the lubricant of bureaucracy since forever.
I guess the digital dollars will be much more challenging to use for these activities as you can see the blockchain to follow disbursements.
Unlike the anonymity of BTC, the USDC will track every hand it touches and what it purchased.

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