Prosecutors in Ohio say two men pocketed nearly $800,000 in investor funds collected in a bogus medical cannabis and CBD business.
A Warren County grand jury indicted Aaron Pitman, and Ryan R. Goldschmidt on charges of theft, corrupt activity, unlawful securities practices and fraud in their dealings with investors through Oak Street Group, GGB Assets, and Excelsior Leasing and other business entities.
Misrepresentation
Prosecutor David P. Fornshell said as the defendants pitched investors for a cannabis cartridge manufacturing business, they misrepresented themselves as licensed securities brokers and posed as experienced in the business of medical cannabis and CBD, which they were not. Goldschmidt also passed himself off as an attorney although he is not.
“The men are accused of making misrepresentations to multiple victims to induce them to invest in a medical marijuana grow operation that Pitman and Goldschmidt claimed to be in California, as well as a CBD oil cartridge manufacturing business,” according to a press statement from the prosecutor’s office.
Where the money went
Approximately $796,714 in investor funds were deposited into bank accounts controlled by Pitman and Goldschmidt, and used for personal expenses and to pay off prior lawsuits or make payments to their friends, the prosecutor charged.
The Warren County prosecutor said he became aware of Pitman and Goldschmidt through a separate investigation of Pitman in a different case by the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office.
The indictments grew out of an investigation by the Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Securities, and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the Forensic Accounting Division.
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