Paul Stanford of Portland, Oregon, the man who describes himself as the nation’s largest broker of authorizations for medical marijuana, has pleaded guilty to reduced state tax-evasion charges.
But Stanford said it was a petty and politically motivated prosecution.
“It’s the first time in Oregon history that the attorney general has held a press conference about a misdemeanor case,” Stanford told Toke of the Town Wednesday afternoon.
Stanford, 50, founder of The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation (THCF), was charged in March with failing to file personal state income taxes in 2008 and 2009, reports Fox 12 Oregon.
“Paying taxes is not optional,” crowed Oregon Attorney General John Kroger, unable to stop himself from throwing a self-congratulatory press conference immediately after the plea was announced.
Stanford had earlier said he would be cleared of guilt, but told Toke of the Town that he instead took a “sweetheart deal” from prosecutors and accepted a misdemeanor charge of personal income tax evasion.