Two Florida doctors are seeking a total $4.4 million from a Colorado-based firm they say defrauded them in a CBD scam, the Denver Post reported.
Dr. Josse Anthony Mazo and his wife, Dr. Maritza Riascos have sued John Michael Merritt Jr., owner of Full Spectrum Nutrition, in Denver’s U.S. District Court. They’re seeking return of their original investment of $1.1 million plus three times that amount in damages, according to their attorney, Craig Brand, who filed the lawsuit.
The claimants accuse Merritt as owner of Full Spectrum, presumably based in Colorado Springs, of using their money to support a Costa Rican wildlife refuge
“It’s all done as a sham,” Brand told the Post, calling Merritt a “classic con artist” who preys on unwitting victims looking to make it rich in the cannabis business. Mazo and Riascos claim in their lawsuit that Merritt, who also has homes in Florida, Costa Rica and Louisiana, based his pitch on a deal he’d obtained to source CBD products at steep discounts from Folium Biosciences, a Colorado Springs-based hemp-products wholesaler.
