A convicted Southern California con artist pleads guilty in an $18 million cannabis scam
Federal prosecutors say a convicted California con artist has pleaded guilty to another scam and admitted he swindled investors out of $18 million by concocting phony cannabis businesses. Mark Roy Anderson allegedly did this shortly after being released from prison in a prior criminal case. Anderson pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of wire fraud. Investigators say he lured his victims with false claims that he ran companies that invested in hemp farms and cannabis-infused retail products. Officials say he launched the scheme immediately after his 2019 release from a Texas prison where he had served more than 11 years for an oil investment scam. The 69-year-old faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each count.