The former chief executive of JointVentures, a marijuana products delivery service, pleaded guilty to money laundering Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced.
Connor Pennington, 39, operated his company out of a D.C. residential building under the primary name “Joint Delivery,” and sold marijuana and related products, including vape cartridges, dabbing wax and edibles.
The company brought in immediate profits, with a windfall of nearly $1.5 million in 2015, and about $2.3 million through the first three quarters of 2021.
In order to process the funds, Pennington and other company representatives deposited the money in batches of less than $10,000 in several accounts controlled by the company. The splintering of the profit pool was done in order to avoid scrutiny and disguise the origin of the cash, prosecutors said.
Pennington faces up to 20 years in prison for laundering the roughly $3.5 million in proceeds. Drug distribution charges against him and other company employees have been dismissed, according to WRIC-TV, a Richmond ABC affiliate.
In 2020, before the money laundering crackdown, JointVentures almost began a joint venture with defunct D.C. restaurant Coconut Club, which would have delivered weed products alongside the restaurant’s food.
“We were told by reliable sources that the Department of Health, DCRA, and MPD would threaten to shut us down if we chose to do so. To preserve our liquor license and more importantly, our business, we have made the decision to refrain from the collaboration until further notice,” Coconut Club told the Washington City Paper in April 2020, explaining why the partnership did not go through as planned.
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