SEC accuses 2 men, including Laguna Niguel resident, of $4 million-plus fraud tied to marijuana-related businesses
Two businessmen have been accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of carrying out a $4 million-plus fraud by selling worthless ownership interests in several marijuana-related businesses.
Guy Scott Griffithe, 40, of Laguna Niguel and Robert William Russell, 60, of Duvall, Washington are accused of defrauding at least 25 investors of an estimated $4.85 million through a securities-offering scheme, according to a civil complaint filed Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana.
According to the complaint, the two men from August 2015 to December 2017 sold investors what they claimed were ownership interests in SMRB, a company owned by Russell and his wife and licensed to produce and process marijuana in Washington.
Some of the sales were made through Renewable Technologies Solutions and Green Acres Pharms, companies controlled by Griffithe, according to the SEC complaint.
The SEC alleges that investors were promised that their money would be used to “operate and improve SMRB’s cannabis business” and that they would receive a portion of the companies’ resulting profits.
Instead, according to the complaint, the securities interests purchased by investors were “essentially worthless” and did not provide them with any “bona fide ownership stake in SMRB.”
According to the SEC, SMRB was never profitable, with funds paid to investors coming “from other capital invested in the scheme in Ponzi-like fashion.”
The complaint alleges that Griffithe misappropriated more than $1.8 million from investors for his personal use and “other inappropriate expenditures.” That includes luxury cars and money spent on Griffithe’s other business ventures, including Bridgegate Pictures Corp. and other “undertakings in the movie industry,” according to the complaint.
Russell is accused by the SEC of putting $1.7 million of investor money into his personal bank account, and spending at least part of it on the purchase of a yacht.
There is no indication in federal court records that Griffithe or Russell currently face criminal charges related to the alleged scheme.