Michigan Businessman Charged with Tax Evasion Among Other Offenses

2021-03-27

A federal grand jury in Detroit, Michigan, returned an indictment charging a Bloomfield Hills businessman with tax evasion on March 24, attempting to obstruct the internal revenue laws, making a false statement, and willful failure to file his own individual income tax return.

According to the indictment, Ryan Richmond owned and operated Relief Choices LLC, a medical marijuana dispensary in Warren. The indictment alleges that from 2011 through at least 2014, Richmond caused Relief Choices to make extensive use of cash to pay business operating expenses and routed customer business credit card payments through an unrelated third-party bank account to conceal his actual business gross receipts from the IRS. In 2015 and 2016, Richmond allegedly made false statements about his control of, profit from, and work responsibilities for Relief Choices to an IRS auditor.

If convicted, Richmond faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison for each count of tax evasion and false statements, three years in prison for the obstruction of the IRS count, and a maximum sentence of one year in prison for the failure to file a tax return count. Richmond also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice