Don’t invest in marijuana. A substance that is now legal in multiple states, pot makes for good business. It also leads to some strange bedfellows.
Here is a story of two former NFL players that were duped out of cold-hard cash by investing in a marijuana trafficking ring that moonlighted publicly as a source to help provide sick people with marijuana.
No, really.
According to the Associated Press, former NFL players Erik Pears and Joel Dreessen were swindled out of money after believing they were investing in a legal medical marijuana business. This is based off an indictment handed down to 62 people and 12 businesses claiming they illegally shipped marijuana to six different states.
“The black market for marijuana has not gone away since recreational marijuana was legalized in our state, and in fact continues to flourish,” state Attorney General Cynthia Coffman said in a statement, via the AP.
Neither Pears nor Dreessen were implicated in any wrongdoing. Instead, it seems that they are victims of the ring. Though, the indictment didn’t indicate one way or another how much money each ex-NFL player handed over to the criminals.
The defendants themselves were charged with 31 felony counts, including money-laundering and tax evasion.