Operation Green Merchant-1989- (part 1, long)

[Weird]

I just found a bottle of green air products something or the other I grabbed from a shop back then


people were real uptight after that

 

[Guest]

You must be thinking of some other seed bank my friend. I do not remember SSSC ever offering any Haze variant at all.

From the 89/90 cat.

 

[Yo Sammy]

A sad story... legislators need to step things up world wide to start the healing of all nations. Fuck all snitches!

 

[knowing all]

Hey guys, I hope everybody is high and smiling.

I recently came across the Affidavit from RAYMOND ANTHONY COGO who is the snitch in the case against Nevil. I will attach the PDF and text to this message.

In the affidavit against Nevil, Cogo states that during his 18 months of sending seeds for the Seed Bank, he was responsible for shipping over 11,000 packages and instead of destroying the customer information as Nevil told him to do, Cogo kept it and gave it to the DEA sometime between March 1989 & June 1989. Operation Green Merchant started five months later in October 1989.

This SOB is still selling nutrients to the cannabis industry and has been attacking me for writing an article for grow magazine that exposes his treachery.

Please see: https://growmag.com/growmag_feature/legacy-of-a-legend/

This website will not let me upload the PDF so these are screenshots of the file and the complete text.

Please note, I allowed my computer to OCR the text from the PDF so there might be some minor mistakes, so I included screenshots of the PDF for authenticity. You can find the documents about Nevil and COGO on PACER.

---

Case 2:90-cr-00055-EEF-DEK Document 14-2 Filed 02/01/94 Page 1 of 59

9000210/cs
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA * CRIMINAL DOCKET NO. 90-055
VERSUS * SECTION: “H" (4)
NEVIL MARTIN SCHOENMAKERS *

* * *
AFFIDAVIT OF RAYMOND ANTHONY COGO

RAYMOND ANTHONY COGO, being duly sworn, deposes and says that:

1. My full name is Raymond Anthony Cogo. I was born in Detroit, Michigan on October 20, 1957. I was educated in the public schools of the United States and graduated from high school at Livonia, Michigan in 1975. Until an on-the job accident caused disabling injuries to my back, I worked as a bricklayer and cement man. For almost a year and a half, I was the U. S. distribution agent for "The Seed Bank," and also distributed a liquid fertilizer. I have cooperated with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration in its investigation of the activities of Nevil Martin Schoenmakers, and others. No charges have been made against me as a result of the facts related herein, although I fully appreciate the fact that my statements have the effect of incriminating me. This statement made by me accurately sets forth the evidence which I would be prepared, if necessary, to give in Court as a witness. The statement is true to the best of my knowledge and belief, and I make it knowing that I would be liable to prosecution were I to have wilfully included in it anything which I know to be false or do not believe to be true.

2. I have first-hand knowledge of the general method of operations of the international marihuana seed distribution business conducted in and out of the Netherlands by Schoenmakers under the trade name of "The Seed Bank." My first contact with Schoenmakers was as a mail order customer of The Seed Bank. This was during early 1986, when I was involved in growing marihuana for my own use to aid in dealing with the pain from my back injury. I also was developing an interest in hydroponic food production. In early 1986, I placed several telephone calls to The Seed Bank, using the telephone number listed in their catalog. I spoke to a man who identified himself as Schoenmakers, and through a combination of those telephone conversations and letters sent and received through the mails, we gradually developed a friendly relationship.

3. In the summer of 1986, Schoenmakers invited me to visit him in Holland. I flew from Detroit, Michigan, U. S. A. to Amsterdam in July, 1986. A man identifying himself as Schoenmakers eventually met me at the airport, and took me to his house, which is the house pictured in the attached article entitled “Inside the Cannabis Castle - The Incredible Story of the Man Who Would be King of Cannabis" (High Times, March, 1987) (Attachment 1). The man I met at the airport, and with whom I stayed during a portion of this visit, was a white male, about six feet tall and medium build, with green eyes and blond hair. His picture appears on the page numbered 41 in the published magazine article at Attachment 1, as well as in the photograph at Attachment 2. On that visit, I stayed in Holland approximately three days, and spent one night in Schoenmakers' house. This house, which is really an old mansion located in the small village of Lent (near Nijmegen) is shown in the photograph at Attachment 3. I actually took the photographs at Attachments 2 and 3 during one of my visits to The Seed Bank. While I was at Schoenmakers' house, he showed me his marihuana growing operation inside his house. I saw an elaborate system of growing plants, rooted in rockwool nourished by liquid fertilizer, and under 400 watt horizontal lamps.

4. I returned to Holland the following month, that is, in August, 1986, and stayed by prior arrangement with a friend of Schoenmakers. While I was there, the friend arranged for me to visit Schoenmakers' house again. During my visit, Schoenmakers excused himself to go to the post office. Shortly thereafter, he returned with a large duffel bag filled with hundreds of envelopes. He began to open the envelopes in my presence, whereupon I saw that each of them contained hundreds of dollars of United States currency and an order for marihuana seeds. Schoenmakers told me that he received a bag of orders such as these on the order of twice a week.

5. During my August, 1986 visit, Schoenmakers introduced me to an American that he called "Charlie," and that I now know to be Charles Benjamin Frink. Schoenmakers told me that Charlie was a trained, university educated expert in horticulture who Was helping him to grow marihuana and harvest the seeds. On one of my early visits to Holland, I was introduced to a man called "Stefan" who I saw working at Schoenmakers' house and tending marihuana plants under instructions from Charlie, I do not know Stefan's last name, but his picture appears on page 48 of the article that is Attachment 1 hereto.

6. I made a number of separate visits to Helland and to The Seed Bank. During one such visit, which I believe was in February of 1987, Schoenmakers informed me that he had someone working for him in the United States, who was receiving bulk shipments of seeds by mail from Holland and then mailing individual orders to customers for The Seed Bank.

7. In June of 1987 my wife and I flew to Holland. I went to Schoenmakers' house, above described, where I met with Schoenmakers and a man called “Mark. " Then, and again in September, 1987, Schoenmakers and Mark suggested that I might work for them by receiving bulk shipments of marihuana seeds, and shipping individual orders to customers in the United States and Canada, Each time, I told them I would consider it. I do not know Mark's last name.

8. In January, 1988, I received a telephone call from Schoenmakers, who asked me if I would distribute seeds for The Seed Bank in the United states, and I agreed to do so. Schoenmakers told me that he would pay me $10 for every seed order that I tailed. Later, my compensation for this service was changed by agreement with Schoenmakers, pursuant to which he had Charles Benjamin Frink give me The Seed Bank's formula for Liquid fertilizer, and agreed to endorse it when I started to market it in the United States.

9. Shortly after I agreed to act as the distribution agent for The Seed Bank in respect to its North American sales operations, I travelled to JFK Airport in New York City and, on the specific instructions of Schoenmakers, received physical custody of a large quantity of marihuana seeds, shipping orders and related records from two men, one of whom had supposedly been handling The Seed Bank's business in the past. I paid them $3,000, which was later reimbursed to me by Schoenmakers, for the stated purpose of paying them for past services. I then brought the seeds and records back to my home in Michigan.

10. From about February of 1988 until June of 1989, I acted as Schoenmakers' distribution agent in the United States. The method of our dealing was as follows: Schoenmakers would cause The Seed Bank to ship marihuana seeds to me in bulk, Wrapped in packets and labeled according to the quantity and type of seeds involved, which packets were shipped in sealed soup cans that were packaged in a box with food items. The soup cans contained lead inserts, and were packed in such a way that their contents could not shift or move about during shipment, and would weigh what the label on the soup can said the can should weigh. Attachment 5 is a photograph showing such soup cans in a typical shipment which was actually received by me from The Seed Bank. I would open the package and inventory the contents, and upon receipt from The Seed Bank of a list of orders, would individually count, wrap and ship the seeds through the mails to the addresses shown on the list. The customers did not mail orders or cash payments to me; all I.did was ship the seeds in execution of the instructions of The Seed Bank. on the basis of my prior experience as one of their grower/customers, and as set forth in the copy of their 1988 catalog at Attachment 5, I was then and am now aware of the procedures for placing orders with The Seed Bank. The customer sends his or her order, with cash wrapped in carbon paper to avoid X-Ray detection, by registered mail to The Seed Bank's address in Holland. Schoenmakers or one of his employees receives the order, collects the cash from the envelope, and then notifies the shipping agent of the quantity and type seed to be shipped and the address to which the seeds are to be shipped. During my time as the shipping agent, I routinely received lists from Schoenmakers or his employees detailing individual orders to be filled.

11. Attachment 6 consists of true and accurate copies of a representative sample of the hundreds of lists I received from The Seed Bank. Each list contained the names and addresses of the persons in the United States who had ordered seeds, the number of seed packets ordered, and the strain of seeds ordered. The strain was indicated in a brief code. For example, the strain of marihuana known as "Big Bud" was abbreviated tc "BU", and an order for a single packet of 10 Big Bud seeds would be abbreviated as “1-BU", Originally, these lists were sent to me in the mail, and later they were sent by fax. The changeover from mail to fax occurred shortly after a visit that I made to Holland in September, 1988, during which Schoenmakers gave me the money to buy a fax machine, While I was in Holland in September of 1988, Mark (previously identified in paragraph 7, above} showed me The Seed Bank's computer and fax machine, and told me how he maintained the records of the seed orders and issued shipping instructions to me, In each case, I mailed the seeds to the address indicated on the lists I received. Although Schoenmakers told me to destroy these lists, I kept them as a record of my activities in support of his operations.

12. I would like to provide additional details as to what I observed of Schoenmakers and his marihuana seed business during my several visits to Holland. Except for a computer and fax machine that Mark showed me at Nijmegen, and some coffee shops in Holland where their marihuana was sold over the counter, the entire cultivation and distribution operation appeared to be conducted in the mansion and a number of smaller structures on Schoenmakers' property in Lent. I would state by way of estimate that the grounds were as much as three acres. When I visited the property in the summer of 1986, and again in 1987 and 1988, I noted that the main house was very large, with huge marihuana buds strewn throughout much of the interior. A small room adjacent to the second story bedroom in which I stayed contained what appeared to be hundreds of individually labeled plastic bags each containing about a quarter pound of specified types of marihuana. When Schoenmakers showed me the basement, in what was essentially a guided tour of the house, I observed it to be full of hydroponically grown marihuana plants. By hydroponically grown, I mean without soil nutrients but rather rooted in rock wool and fed with liquid fertilizer. Each plant was labeled to indicate the type marihuana that was growing. I saw two small cutting rooms where clones of other marihuana were being rooted. I saw a flowering room where at least a hundred marihuana plants were growing in a hydroponic system using rock wool. In this same room were from fifteen to twenty 400 watt horizontal lamps operating. Outside, Schoenmakers showed me two greenhouses each full of marihuana plants, and an outdoor garden with still more plants. I saw two men who were tending the plants and who appeared to be working for Schoenmakers. All the people I met during my various visits to The Seed Bank, including Charles Benjamin Frink, Mark and Stefan, appeared to be part of a well-organized and efficiently operated business activity supervised and directed by Schoenmakers.

13. On the basis of my many contacts, both in person and by mail and telephone, with The Seed Bank and its operators, I am certain that it was engaged in a large scale effort to produce and distribute high quality marihuana seeds to persons who would plant them and grow marihuana plants. During the period of some seventeen (17) months when I was their sole distribution agent for growers in the United States and Canada, I mailed out approximately 11,000 orders which, in the aggregate, represented millions of U.S. dollars that were paid to Schoenmakers.

14. This Holland-based end of The Seed Bank's operation was anything but a secret. Schoenmakers told me that he was a regular advertiser in the magazine High Times, and either he or Mark told me that he had a contract with a company in California or Oregon to publish an annual mail order catalog. Schoenmakers took pride in his operations, and stated to me that his seed distribution business was a legal activity in Holland.

15. In March of 1989, after I had already been handling orders for Schoenmakers, I was arrested for growing marihuana by the authorities in the State of Michigan. I was convicted and sentenced to serve six months in jail. At my wife's request, Schoenmakers lent us $30,000 for legal expenses. While on a work release program, I learned that the company that was handling distribution of my liquid fertilizer, "Superior Growers, Inc. ", had stolen the formula and was cutting me out of the picture. This and other things led me to go to law enforcement authorities and agree to cooperate in providing information about my dealings with Schoenmakers. At the time I did this, the authorities here were not, to my knowledge, aware of my serving as Schoenmakers' distribution agent for The Seed Bank's marihuana seed sales.

16. I know that the seeds sold by Schoenmakers were marihuana seeds. In fact, the seeds I bought from him in 1986 were planted by me, developed into mature plants, and produced marihuana that I smoked. I am familiar with the effects of using marihuana on the body and mind. I experienced those effects, including euphoria, pain relief, light-headedness, and accentuation of senses of hearing and taste, when I used marihuana produced from Schoenmakers' seeds, from plants at his house, and from marihuana ts he gave me in his car as we drove from the airport to his house in the summer of 1986. I am familiar with the physical appearance of marihuana seeds. All the seeds I handled and mailed to Seed Bank customers were similar in size and appearance to the ones I bought and cultivated from Schoenmakers in 1986.

17. I swear that the above information is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, true and correct. I have put my initials and today's date on each of the attachments hereto.

(SIGNED)
RAYMOND ANTHONY COGO
Six Attachments:

1. High Times article (3/87)

2. Photograph of Schoenmakers

3. Photograph of Schoenmakers' house

4. Photograph of soup cans and seed packs

5. Seed Bank catalog

6. Lists of seed orders

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me, the undersigned United States Magistrate Judge by Raymond Anthony Cogo, this 26 day of January, 1994, in Grand Rapids, MI

(SIGNED)
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Western District of Mich.

What is more alarming is that the DEA agents already had the addresses of the people who received the seeds during the time that Cogo was responsible for sending them. By knowing who the growers were, it was simply a matter of following them to their local gardening shop and implicating the garden store owners as conspirators in the manufacture of a controlled substance.

 

[knowing all]

Tom got screwed purple by Green Merchant. As I remember it he had to forfeit his shop and forfeit any revenue or allegiance to Sinsemilla Tips Magazine; his baby and a stellar mag unlike any other publication at the time.

I was managing a grow shop on the day that Green Merchant was launched and got served one their administrative subpoena. Took the job when I stopped shipping SSSC seed.

Almost all the grow shops & hydro companies rolled over like whipped puppies. They gave up their customer records, their shipping records, etc. without fighting at all. All companies except for Worm's Way, who fought every step of the way; and paid dearly for it. They tried to file 100% forfeiture against his multi-store company steal all of his investments, etc. Hell when the DEA raided his home they even searched his kids underwear drawers. Found nothing at all. Not even a single bud or pack of papers. Cost him a very fat 5 digits of $$ to fight the evil scurge; but he did, and ended up doubling the size of the company in a most majestic way.

I handled all their computer equipment at the time. For some wacky reason the DEA was not able to get even one byte of customer info, digitized shipping records, or the mailing lists (cough). Golly gee willikers, data storage was just a mystery to me (cough). I guess something like a sun flare must have happened to all them floopy disks (hey - it was the 90's) with which held said golden bytes of data (cough). By total geek error I fear that all the companies hard drives became irretrievably corrupted somehow (cough). Like someone had run the NSA's blackhat drive wipe protocol on all of them (cough). Danged if data wasn't hard to retain in the 90's (cough). [I should stop smoking I guess.]

Ended up in a deal for him to plead guilty to some lame, made up charges but keep his company. He actually ran the company while in work release. He was a stand-up and fight back guy all the way. Other small store owners just could not afford the legal fees, some big ass companies (like Hydrofarm) rolled over so fast it would spin your head.

The DEA's figures of seizure and operation results were SO off as to be absolutely comical.

High Times and Sinsemilla Tips, which were both created to share gardening tips and the latest in cannabis breeding and production,



*proved a valuable resource to narcotics detectives. “



By looking at stores that advertised in these periodicals, and tracking the purchase records of their customers, law enforcement hoped to find and disenfranchise marijuana farmers across the country.”

 

[knowing all]

Hey guys, I hope everybody is high and smiling.

I recently came across the Affidavit from RAYMOND ANTHONY COGO who is the snitch in the case against Nevil. I will attach the PDF and text to this message.

In the affidavit against Nevil, Cogo states that during his 18 months of sending seeds for the Seed Bank, he was responsible for shipping over 11,000 packages and instead of destroying the customer information as Nevil told him to do, Cogo kept it and gave it to the DEA sometime between March 1989 & June 1989. Operation Green Merchant started five months later in October 1989.

This SOB is still selling nutrients to the cannabis industry and has been attacking me for writing an article for grow magazine that exposes his treachery.

Please see: https://growmag.com/growmag_feature/legacy-of-a-legend/

This website will not let me upload the PDF so these are screenshots of the file and the complete text.

Please note, I allowed my computer to OCR the text from the PDF so there might be some minor mistakes, so I included screenshots of the PDF for authenticity. You can find the documents about Nevil and COGO on PACER.

---

Case 2:90-cr-00055-EEF-DEK Document 14-2 Filed 02/01/94 Page 1 of 59

9000210/cs
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA * CRIMINAL DOCKET NO. 90-055
VERSUS * SECTION: “H" (4)
NEVIL MARTIN SCHOENMAKERS *

* * *
AFFIDAVIT OF RAYMOND ANTHONY COGO

RAYMOND ANTHONY COGO, being duly sworn, deposes and says that:

1. My full name is Raymond Anthony Cogo. I was born in Detroit, Michigan on October 20, 1957. I was educated in the public schools of the United States and graduated from high school at Livonia, Michigan in 1975. Until an on-the job accident caused disabling injuries to my back, I worked as a bricklayer and cement man. For almost a year and a half, I was the U. S. distribution agent for "The Seed Bank," and also distributed a liquid fertilizer. I have cooperated with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration in its investigation of the activities of Nevil Martin Schoenmakers, and others. No charges have been made against me as a result of the facts related herein, although I fully appreciate the fact that my statements have the effect of incriminating me. This statement made by me accurately sets forth the evidence which I would be prepared, if necessary, to give in Court as a witness. The statement is true to the best of my knowledge and belief, and I make it knowing that I would be liable to prosecution were I to have wilfully included in it anything which I know to be false or do not believe to be true.

2. I have first-hand knowledge of the general method of operations of the international marihuana seed distribution business conducted in and out of the Netherlands by Schoenmakers under the trade name of "The Seed Bank." My first contact with Schoenmakers was as a mail order customer of The Seed Bank. This was during early 1986, when I was involved in growing marihuana for my own use to aid in dealing with the pain from my back injury. I also was developing an interest in hydroponic food production. In early 1986, I placed several telephone calls to The Seed Bank, using the telephone number listed in their catalog. I spoke to a man who identified himself as Schoenmakers, and through a combination of those telephone conversations and letters sent and received through the mails, we gradually developed a friendly relationship.

3. In the summer of 1986, Schoenmakers invited me to visit him in Holland. I flew from Detroit, Michigan, U. S. A. to Amsterdam in July, 1986. A man identifying himself as Schoenmakers eventually met me at the airport, and took me to his house, which is the house pictured in the attached article entitled “Inside the Cannabis Castle - The Incredible Story of the Man Who Would be King of Cannabis" (High Times, March, 1987) (Attachment 1). The man I met at the airport, and with whom I stayed during a portion of this visit, was a white male, about six feet tall and medium build, with green eyes and blond hair. His picture appears on the page numbered 41 in the published magazine article at Attachment 1, as well as in the photograph at Attachment 2. On that visit, I stayed in Holland approximately three days, and spent one night in Schoenmakers' house. This house, which is really an old mansion located in the small village of Lent (near Nijmegen) is shown in the photograph at Attachment 3. I actually took the photographs at Attachments 2 and 3 during one of my visits to The Seed Bank. While I was at Schoenmakers' house, he showed me his marihuana growing operation inside his house. I saw an elaborate system of growing plants, rooted in rockwool nourished by liquid fertilizer, and under 400 watt horizontal lamps.

4. I returned to Holland the following month, that is, in August, 1986, and stayed by prior arrangement with a friend of Schoenmakers. While I was there, the friend arranged for me to visit Schoenmakers' house again. During my visit, Schoenmakers excused himself to go to the post office. Shortly thereafter, he returned with a large duffel bag filled with hundreds of envelopes. He began to open the envelopes in my presence, whereupon I saw that each of them contained hundreds of dollars of United States currency and an order for marihuana seeds. Schoenmakers told me that he received a bag of orders such as these on the order of twice a week.

5. During my August, 1986 visit, Schoenmakers introduced me to an American that he called "Charlie," and that I now know to be Charles Benjamin Frink. Schoenmakers told me that Charlie was a trained, university educated expert in horticulture who Was helping him to grow marihuana and harvest the seeds. On one of my early visits to Holland, I was introduced to a man called "Stefan" who I saw working at Schoenmakers' house and tending marihuana plants under instructions from Charlie, I do not know Stefan's last name, but his picture appears on page 48 of the article that is Attachment 1 hereto.

6. I made a number of separate visits to Helland and to The Seed Bank. During one such visit, which I believe was in February of 1987, Schoenmakers informed me that he had someone working for him in the United States, who was receiving bulk shipments of seeds by mail from Holland and then mailing individual orders to customers for The Seed Bank.

7. In June of 1987 my wife and I flew to Holland. I went to Schoenmakers' house, above described, where I met with Schoenmakers and a man called “Mark. " Then, and again in September, 1987, Schoenmakers and Mark suggested that I might work for them by receiving bulk shipments of marihuana seeds, and shipping individual orders to customers in the United States and Canada, Each time, I told them I would consider it. I do not know Mark's last name.

8. In January, 1988, I received a telephone call from Schoenmakers, who asked me if I would distribute seeds for The Seed Bank in the United states, and I agreed to do so. Schoenmakers told me that he would pay me $10 for every seed order that I tailed. Later, my compensation for this service was changed by agreement with Schoenmakers, pursuant to which he had Charles Benjamin Frink give me The Seed Bank's formula for Liquid fertilizer, and agreed to endorse it when I started to market it in the United States.

9. Shortly after I agreed to act as the distribution agent for The Seed Bank in respect to its North American sales operations, I travelled to JFK Airport in New York City and, on the specific instructions of Schoenmakers, received physical custody of a large quantity of marihuana seeds, shipping orders and related records from two men, one of whom had supposedly been handling The Seed Bank's business in the past. I paid them $3,000, which was later reimbursed to me by Schoenmakers, for the stated purpose of paying them for past services. I then brought the seeds and records back to my home in Michigan.

10. From about February of 1988 until June of 1989, I acted as Schoenmakers' distribution agent in the United States. The method of our dealing was as follows: Schoenmakers would cause The Seed Bank to ship marihuana seeds to me in bulk, Wrapped in packets and labeled according to the quantity and type of seeds involved, which packets were shipped in sealed soup cans that were packaged in a box with food items. The soup cans contained lead inserts, and were packed in such a way that their contents could not shift or move about during shipment, and would weigh what the label on the soup can said the can should weigh. Attachment 5 is a photograph showing such soup cans in a typical shipment which was actually received by me from The Seed Bank. I would open the package and inventory the contents, and upon receipt from The Seed Bank of a list of orders, would individually count, wrap and ship the seeds through the mails to the addresses shown on the list. The customers did not mail orders or cash payments to me; all I.did was ship the seeds in execution of the instructions of The Seed Bank. on the basis of my prior experience as one of their grower/customers, and as set forth in the copy of their 1988 catalog at Attachment 5, I was then and am now aware of the procedures for placing orders with The Seed Bank. The customer sends his or her order, with cash wrapped in carbon paper to avoid X-Ray detection, by registered mail to The Seed Bank's address in Holland. Schoenmakers or one of his employees receives the order, collects the cash from the envelope, and then notifies the shipping agent of the quantity and type seed to be shipped and the address to which the seeds are to be shipped. During my time as the shipping agent, I routinely received lists from Schoenmakers or his employees detailing individual orders to be filled.

11. Attachment 6 consists of true and accurate copies of a representative sample of the hundreds of lists I received from The Seed Bank. Each list contained the names and addresses of the persons in the United States who had ordered seeds, the number of seed packets ordered, and the strain of seeds ordered. The strain was indicated in a brief code. For example, the strain of marihuana known as "Big Bud" was abbreviated tc "BU", and an order for a single packet of 10 Big Bud seeds would be abbreviated as “1-BU", Originally, these lists were sent to me in the mail, and later they were sent by fax. The changeover from mail to fax occurred shortly after a visit that I made to Holland in September, 1988, during which Schoenmakers gave me the money to buy a fax machine, While I was in Holland in September of 1988, Mark (previously identified in paragraph 7, above} showed me The Seed Bank's computer and fax machine, and told me how he maintained the records of the seed orders and issued shipping instructions to me, In each case, I mailed the seeds to the address indicated on the lists I received. Although Schoenmakers told me to destroy these lists, I kept them as a record of my activities in support of his operations.

12. I would like to provide additional details as to what I observed of Schoenmakers and his marihuana seed business during my several visits to Holland. Except for a computer and fax machine that Mark showed me at Nijmegen, and some coffee shops in Holland where their marihuana was sold over the counter, the entire cultivation and distribution operation appeared to be conducted in the mansion and a number of smaller structures on Schoenmakers' property in Lent. I would state by way of estimate that the grounds were as much as three acres. When I visited the property in the summer of 1986, and again in 1987 and 1988, I noted that the main house was very large, with huge marihuana buds strewn throughout much of the interior. A small room adjacent to the second story bedroom in which I stayed contained what appeared to be hundreds of individually labeled plastic bags each containing about a quarter pound of specified types of marihuana. When Schoenmakers showed me the basement, in what was essentially a guided tour of the house, I observed it to be full of hydroponically grown marihuana plants. By hydroponically grown, I mean without soil nutrients but rather rooted in rock wool and fed with liquid fertilizer. Each plant was labeled to indicate the type marihuana that was growing. I saw two small cutting rooms where clones of other marihuana were being rooted. I saw a flowering room where at least a hundred marihuana plants were growing in a hydroponic system using rock wool. In this same room were from fifteen to twenty 400 watt horizontal lamps operating. Outside, Schoenmakers showed me two greenhouses each full of marihuana plants, and an outdoor garden with still more plants. I saw two men who were tending the plants and who appeared to be working for Schoenmakers. All the people I met during my various visits to The Seed Bank, including Charles Benjamin Frink, Mark and Stefan, appeared to be part of a well-organized and efficiently operated business activity supervised and directed by Schoenmakers.

13. On the basis of my many contacts, both in person and by mail and telephone, with The Seed Bank and its operators, I am certain that it was engaged in a large scale effort to produce and distribute high quality marihuana seeds to persons who would plant them and grow marihuana plants. During the period of some seventeen (17) months when I was their sole distribution agent for growers in the United States and Canada, I mailed out approximately 11,000 orders which, in the aggregate, represented millions of U.S. dollars that were paid to Schoenmakers.

14. This Holland-based end of The Seed Bank's operation was anything but a secret. Schoenmakers told me that he was a regular advertiser in the magazine High Times, and either he or Mark told me that he had a contract with a company in California or Oregon to publish an annual mail order catalog. Schoenmakers took pride in his operations, and stated to me that his seed distribution business was a legal activity in Holland.

15. In March of 1989, after I had already been handling orders for Schoenmakers, I was arrested for growing marihuana by the authorities in the State of Michigan. I was convicted and sentenced to serve six months in jail. At my wife's request, Schoenmakers lent us $30,000 for legal expenses. While on a work release program, I learned that the company that was handling distribution of my liquid fertilizer, "Superior Growers, Inc. ", had stolen the formula and was cutting me out of the picture. This and other things led me to go to law enforcement authorities and agree to cooperate in providing information about my dealings with Schoenmakers. At the time I did this, the authorities here were not, to my knowledge, aware of my serving as Schoenmakers' distribution agent for The Seed Bank's marihuana seed sales.

16. I know that the seeds sold by Schoenmakers were marihuana seeds. In fact, the seeds I bought from him in 1986 were planted by me, developed into mature plants, and produced marihuana that I smoked. I am familiar with the effects of using marihuana on the body and mind. I experienced those effects, including euphoria, pain relief, light-headedness, and accentuation of senses of hearing and taste, when I used marihuana produced from Schoenmakers' seeds, from plants at his house, and from marihuana ts he gave me in his car as we drove from the airport to his house in the summer of 1986. I am familiar with the physical appearance of marihuana seeds. All the seeds I handled and mailed to Seed Bank customers were similar in size and appearance to the ones I bought and cultivated from Schoenmakers in 1986.

17. I swear that the above information is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, true and correct. I have put my initials and today's date on each of the attachments hereto.

(SIGNED)
RAYMOND ANTHONY COGO
Six Attachments:

1. High Times article (3/87)

2. Photograph of Schoenmakers

3. Photograph of Schoenmakers' house

4. Photograph of soup cans and seed packs

5. Seed Bank catalog

6. Lists of seed orders

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me, the undersigned United States Magistrate Judge by Raymond Anthony Cogo, this 26 day of January, 1994, in Grand Rapids, MI

(SIGNED)
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Western District of Mich.

High Times and Sinsemilla Tips, which were both created to share gardening tips and the latest in cannabis breeding and production,



*proved a valuable resource to narcotics detectives. “



By looking at stores that advertised in these periodicals, and tracking the purchase records of their customers, law enforcement hoped to find and disenfranchise marijuana farmers across the country.”

 

[knowing all]

What is more alarming is that the DEA agents already had the addresses of the people who received the seeds during the time that Cogo was responsible for sending them. By knowing who the growers were, it was simply a matter of following them to their local gardening shop and implicating the garden store owners as conspirators in the manufacture of a controlled substance.

Orders were received by fax, so seed orders were monitored by the government

 

[beebopper]

Hey guys, I hope everybody is high and smiling.

I recently came across the Affidavit from RAYMOND ANTHONY COGO who is the snitch in the case against Nevil. I will attach the PDF and text to this message.

In the affidavit against Nevil, Cogo states that during his 18 months of sending seeds for the Seed Bank, he was responsible for shipping over 11,000 packages and instead of destroying the customer information as Nevil told him to do, Cogo kept it and gave it to the DEA sometime between March 1989 & June 1989. Operation Green Merchant started five months later in October 1989.

This SOB is still selling nutrients to the cannabis industry and has been attacking me for writing an article for grow magazine that exposes his treachery.

Please see: https://growmag.com/growmag_feature/legacy-of-a-legend/

This website will not let me upload the PDF so these are screenshots of the file and the complete text.

Please note, I allowed my computer to OCR the text from the PDF so there might be some minor mistakes, so I included screenshots of the PDF for authenticity. You can find the documents about Nevil and COGO on PACER.

---

Case 2:90-cr-00055-EEF-DEK Document 14-2 Filed 02/01/94 Page 1 of 59

9000210/cs
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA * CRIMINAL DOCKET NO. 90-055
VERSUS * SECTION: “H" (4)
NEVIL MARTIN SCHOENMAKERS *

* * *
AFFIDAVIT OF RAYMOND ANTHONY COGO

RAYMOND ANTHONY COGO, being duly sworn, deposes and says that:

1. My full name is Raymond Anthony Cogo. I was born in Detroit, Michigan on October 20, 1957. I was educated in the public schools of the United States and graduated from high school at Livonia, Michigan in 1975. Until an on-the job accident caused disabling injuries to my back, I worked as a bricklayer and cement man. For almost a year and a half, I was the U. S. distribution agent for "The Seed Bank," and also distributed a liquid fertilizer. I have cooperated with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration in its investigation of the activities of Nevil Martin Schoenmakers, and others. No charges have been made against me as a result of the facts related herein, although I fully appreciate the fact that my statements have the effect of incriminating me. This statement made by me accurately sets forth the evidence which I would be prepared, if necessary, to give in Court as a witness. The statement is true to the best of my knowledge and belief, and I make it knowing that I would be liable to prosecution were I to have wilfully included in it anything which I know to be false or do not believe to be true.

2. I have first-hand knowledge of the general method of operations of the international marihuana seed distribution business conducted in and out of the Netherlands by Schoenmakers under the trade name of "The Seed Bank." My first contact with Schoenmakers was as a mail order customer of The Seed Bank. This was during early 1986, when I was involved in growing marihuana for my own use to aid in dealing with the pain from my back injury. I also was developing an interest in hydroponic food production. In early 1986, I placed several telephone calls to The Seed Bank, using the telephone number listed in their catalog. I spoke to a man who identified himself as Schoenmakers, and through a combination of those telephone conversations and letters sent and received through the mails, we gradually developed a friendly relationship.

3. In the summer of 1986, Schoenmakers invited me to visit him in Holland. I flew from Detroit, Michigan, U. S. A. to Amsterdam in July, 1986. A man identifying himself as Schoenmakers eventually met me at the airport, and took me to his house, which is the house pictured in the attached article entitled “Inside the Cannabis Castle - The Incredible Story of the Man Who Would be King of Cannabis" (High Times, March, 1987) (Attachment 1). The man I met at the airport, and with whom I stayed during a portion of this visit, was a white male, about six feet tall and medium build, with green eyes and blond hair. His picture appears on the page numbered 41 in the published magazine article at Attachment 1, as well as in the photograph at Attachment 2. On that visit, I stayed in Holland approximately three days, and spent one night in Schoenmakers' house. This house, which is really an old mansion located in the small village of Lent (near Nijmegen) is shown in the photograph at Attachment 3. I actually took the photographs at Attachments 2 and 3 during one of my visits to The Seed Bank. While I was at Schoenmakers' house, he showed me his marihuana growing operation inside his house. I saw an elaborate system of growing plants, rooted in rockwool nourished by liquid fertilizer, and under 400 watt horizontal lamps.

4. I returned to Holland the following month, that is, in August, 1986, and stayed by prior arrangement with a friend of Schoenmakers. While I was there, the friend arranged for me to visit Schoenmakers' house again. During my visit, Schoenmakers excused himself to go to the post office. Shortly thereafter, he returned with a large duffel bag filled with hundreds of envelopes. He began to open the envelopes in my presence, whereupon I saw that each of them contained hundreds of dollars of United States currency and an order for marihuana seeds. Schoenmakers told me that he received a bag of orders such as these on the order of twice a week.

5. During my August, 1986 visit, Schoenmakers introduced me to an American that he called "Charlie," and that I now know to be Charles Benjamin Frink. Schoenmakers told me that Charlie was a trained, university educated expert in horticulture who Was helping him to grow marihuana and harvest the seeds. On one of my early visits to Holland, I was introduced to a man called "Stefan" who I saw working at Schoenmakers' house and tending marihuana plants under instructions from Charlie, I do not know Stefan's last name, but his picture appears on page 48 of the article that is Attachment 1 hereto.

6. I made a number of separate visits to Helland and to The Seed Bank. During one such visit, which I believe was in February of 1987, Schoenmakers informed me that he had someone working for him in the United States, who was receiving bulk shipments of seeds by mail from Holland and then mailing individual orders to customers for The Seed Bank.

7. In June of 1987 my wife and I flew to Holland. I went to Schoenmakers' house, above described, where I met with Schoenmakers and a man called “Mark. " Then, and again in September, 1987, Schoenmakers and Mark suggested that I might work for them by receiving bulk shipments of marihuana seeds, and shipping individual orders to customers in the United States and Canada, Each time, I told them I would consider it. I do not know Mark's last name.

8. In January, 1988, I received a telephone call from Schoenmakers, who asked me if I would distribute seeds for The Seed Bank in the United states, and I agreed to do so. Schoenmakers told me that he would pay me $10 for every seed order that I tailed. Later, my compensation for this service was changed by agreement with Schoenmakers, pursuant to which he had Charles Benjamin Frink give me The Seed Bank's formula for Liquid fertilizer, and agreed to endorse it when I started to market it in the United States.

9. Shortly after I agreed to act as the distribution agent for The Seed Bank in respect to its North American sales operations, I travelled to JFK Airport in New York City and, on the specific instructions of Schoenmakers, received physical custody of a large quantity of marihuana seeds, shipping orders and related records from two men, one of whom had supposedly been handling The Seed Bank's business in the past. I paid them $3,000, which was later reimbursed to me by Schoenmakers, for the stated purpose of paying them for past services. I then brought the seeds and records back to my home in Michigan.

10. From about February of 1988 until June of 1989, I acted as Schoenmakers' distribution agent in the United States. The method of our dealing was as follows: Schoenmakers would cause The Seed Bank to ship marihuana seeds to me in bulk, Wrapped in packets and labeled according to the quantity and type of seeds involved, which packets were shipped in sealed soup cans that were packaged in a box with food items. The soup cans contained lead inserts, and were packed in such a way that their contents could not shift or move about during shipment, and would weigh what the label on the soup can said the can should weigh. Attachment 5 is a photograph showing such soup cans in a typical shipment which was actually received by me from The Seed Bank. I would open the package and inventory the contents, and upon receipt from The Seed Bank of a list of orders, would individually count, wrap and ship the seeds through the mails to the addresses shown on the list. The customers did not mail orders or cash payments to me; all I.did was ship the seeds in execution of the instructions of The Seed Bank. on the basis of my prior experience as one of their grower/customers, and as set forth in the copy of their 1988 catalog at Attachment 5, I was then and am now aware of the procedures for placing orders with The Seed Bank. The customer sends his or her order, with cash wrapped in carbon paper to avoid X-Ray detection, by registered mail to The Seed Bank's address in Holland. Schoenmakers or one of his employees receives the order, collects the cash from the envelope, and then notifies the shipping agent of the quantity and type seed to be shipped and the address to which the seeds are to be shipped. During my time as the shipping agent, I routinely received lists from Schoenmakers or his employees detailing individual orders to be filled.

11. Attachment 6 consists of true and accurate copies of a representative sample of the hundreds of lists I received from The Seed Bank. Each list contained the names and addresses of the persons in the United States who had ordered seeds, the number of seed packets ordered, and the strain of seeds ordered. The strain was indicated in a brief code. For example, the strain of marihuana known as "Big Bud" was abbreviated tc "BU", and an order for a single packet of 10 Big Bud seeds would be abbreviated as “1-BU", Originally, these lists were sent to me in the mail, and later they were sent by fax. The changeover from mail to fax occurred shortly after a visit that I made to Holland in September, 1988, during which Schoenmakers gave me the money to buy a fax machine, While I was in Holland in September of 1988, Mark (previously identified in paragraph 7, above} showed me The Seed Bank's computer and fax machine, and told me how he maintained the records of the seed orders and issued shipping instructions to me, In each case, I mailed the seeds to the address indicated on the lists I received. Although Schoenmakers told me to destroy these lists, I kept them as a record of my activities in support of his operations.

12. I would like to provide additional details as to what I observed of Schoenmakers and his marihuana seed business during my several visits to Holland. Except for a computer and fax machine that Mark showed me at Nijmegen, and some coffee shops in Holland where their marihuana was sold over the counter, the entire cultivation and distribution operation appeared to be conducted in the mansion and a number of smaller structures on Schoenmakers' property in Lent. I would state by way of estimate that the grounds were as much as three acres. When I visited the property in the summer of 1986, and again in 1987 and 1988, I noted that the main house was very large, with huge marihuana buds strewn throughout much of the interior. A small room adjacent to the second story bedroom in which I stayed contained what appeared to be hundreds of individually labeled plastic bags each containing about a quarter pound of specified types of marihuana. When Schoenmakers showed me the basement, in what was essentially a guided tour of the house, I observed it to be full of hydroponically grown marihuana plants. By hydroponically grown, I mean without soil nutrients but rather rooted in rock wool and fed with liquid fertilizer. Each plant was labeled to indicate the type marihuana that was growing. I saw two small cutting rooms where clones of other marihuana were being rooted. I saw a flowering room where at least a hundred marihuana plants were growing in a hydroponic system using rock wool. In this same room were from fifteen to twenty 400 watt horizontal lamps operating. Outside, Schoenmakers showed me two greenhouses each full of marihuana plants, and an outdoor garden with still more plants. I saw two men who were tending the plants and who appeared to be working for Schoenmakers. All the people I met during my various visits to The Seed Bank, including Charles Benjamin Frink, Mark and Stefan, appeared to be part of a well-organized and efficiently operated business activity supervised and directed by Schoenmakers.

13. On the basis of my many contacts, both in person and by mail and telephone, with The Seed Bank and its operators, I am certain that it was engaged in a large scale effort to produce and distribute high quality marihuana seeds to persons who would plant them and grow marihuana plants. During the period of some seventeen (17) months when I was their sole distribution agent for growers in the United States and Canada, I mailed out approximately 11,000 orders which, in the aggregate, represented millions of U.S. dollars that were paid to Schoenmakers.

14. This Holland-based end of The Seed Bank's operation was anything but a secret. Schoenmakers told me that he was a regular advertiser in the magazine High Times, and either he or Mark told me that he had a contract with a company in California or Oregon to publish an annual mail order catalog. Schoenmakers took pride in his operations, and stated to me that his seed distribution business was a legal activity in Holland.

15. In March of 1989, after I had already been handling orders for Schoenmakers, I was arrested for growing marihuana by the authorities in the State of Michigan. I was convicted and sentenced to serve six months in jail. At my wife's request, Schoenmakers lent us $30,000 for legal expenses. While on a work release program, I learned that the company that was handling distribution of my liquid fertilizer, "Superior Growers, Inc. ", had stolen the formula and was cutting me out of the picture. This and other things led me to go to law enforcement authorities and agree to cooperate in providing information about my dealings with Schoenmakers. At the time I did this, the authorities here were not, to my knowledge, aware of my serving as Schoenmakers' distribution agent for The Seed Bank's marihuana seed sales.

16. I know that the seeds sold by Schoenmakers were marihuana seeds. In fact, the seeds I bought from him in 1986 were planted by me, developed into mature plants, and produced marihuana that I smoked. I am familiar with the effects of using marihuana on the body and mind. I experienced those effects, including euphoria, pain relief, light-headedness, and accentuation of senses of hearing and taste, when I used marihuana produced from Schoenmakers' seeds, from plants at his house, and from marihuana ts he gave me in his car as we drove from the airport to his house in the summer of 1986. I am familiar with the physical appearance of marihuana seeds. All the seeds I handled and mailed to Seed Bank customers were similar in size and appearance to the ones I bought and cultivated from Schoenmakers in 1986.

17. I swear that the above information is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, true and correct. I have put my initials and today's date on each of the attachments hereto.

(SIGNED)
RAYMOND ANTHONY COGO
Six Attachments:

1. High Times article (3/87)

2. Photograph of Schoenmakers

3. Photograph of Schoenmakers' house

4. Photograph of soup cans and seed packs

5. Seed Bank catalog

6. Lists of seed orders

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me, the undersigned United States Magistrate Judge by Raymond Anthony Cogo, this 26 day of January, 1994, in Grand Rapids, MI

(SIGNED)
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Western District of Mich.

Todd has pulled this shit before with a guy named imler when Todd couldn't get his way when he was indicted twice for 6000 plants. he labeled cogo a snitch to try a protect his mentor Dave Watson which was fingered on Dutch radio. The problem with Todd's conspiracy theories is cogos affidavit was in August 1990 not 1994 and his wasn't on a grand jury. The 1st grand jury was formed in February
Drug Enforcement Administration agents recently showed up at High Times' offices in midtown Manhattan and delivered four grand jury subpoenas requesting all of the magazine's correspondence with the Dutch firm as well as the name, address and phone number of "every current and past" employee of the magazine, a copy of the subpoena states."
After Editor Steven Hager and three other High Times officers were served the grand jury subpoenas in late *May, the magazine received a follow-up letter from the U.S. attorney's office in New Orleans declaring High Times the target of the grand jury investigation.
The magazine's lawyers then moved to quash the subpoenas on First Amendment grounds -- a motion that was denied at a June 20 hearing before U.S. District Judge Adrian G. DuPlantier in New Orleans. At the same hearing, portions of which were closed to the public,
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence Benson identified a number of statutes that the magazine was being investigated for violating, including conspiracy to distribute and possess drugs and conducting a "continuing criminal enterprise," according to attorney Michael Kennedy, who has been retained by High Times to fight the case.
Steve Hagar, peter Gorman, Bram frank and ed Rosenthal were subpoenaed by the grand jury.
The grand jury with testimony from the high time editors above indicted/and attempted to extradite of Nevil Schoenmakers from the Netherlands.
Nevil left the Netherlands in *May 1990 and arrived in Australia in May 1990.
In July 1990 Nevil accompanied by his council turned himself in Australia. his extradition was quashed in july1991.
Cogo has been scapegoated since
.Cogo affidavit was in AUG 1990.

Todd McCormick is the true CI selling seed on the internet which is illegal unless you are registered with USDA, he helps law enforcement monitor seed sales. Todd calls his victims the "criminal element"

Todd McCormick in an interview after he skated from driving with 30 lbs in Ohio was "I'm trying to get rid of the criminal element, you shouldn't have to go out in the street."​

Todd received 5 years for growing 6000 plants, the plea down from 10 year mandatory minimum which he served 3.9 years. What Todd did was turn in the other houses that he was growing in.'​

​

The Gang That Couldn't Grow Straight

Posted by FoM on September 03, 2001 at 06:44:27 PT By Michael Simmons Source: Penthouse

"the 43-page conspiracy indictment, released the same day, which re-indicted McWilliams, McCormick, and the four other defendants from the Bel-Air bust and added three new ones. The new indictment singled out four grow sites ( including Bel-Air ) and alluded to two others," Todd McCormick has tried this bullshit before​

McCormick claimed Imler had dropped the dime on McWilliams's operation. During the discovery process of his trial, McCormick had obtained a memo written by a West Hollywood Sheriff's Department detective concerning information from a confidential informant who McCormick insisted was Imler. Dated five days before the Bel-Air bust, the memo contains no indication that the Cl was Imler, who, in any event, was in Atlanta at a Methodist conference the week the informant squawked. What's more, according to an affidavit from a DEA agent, the feds knew about the pot mansion two days before that memo when, on July 22, 1997, they'd busted a woman named Susan Korski on a charge of possession of quantities of weed and cocaine. She fingered McCormick and said he was growing marijuana in a "castle-type" house in Bel-Air.

The attempt to malign Imler as a snitch was obvious payback for the LACRC director's previous public criticism of the outlaw style of the Bel-Air grow and for his honesty in front of the grand jury. For McCormick and McWilliams, the buck stopped everywhere but Liberty Castle, which had bustled with members of the hemp community: growers, dealers, celebrities, ganja groupies. The informant could have been any one of the human traffic that visited the Bel-Air mansion. But this very controversy begged a larger question: If they were operating under the law as they claimed, what was the big secret? McCormick never went for a stealth policy, never tried to work quietly with politicians and law enforcement, as have many major cannabis clubs in California with varying degrees of success.

​

​

Sending cannabis seed through the USPS is as illegal today, as it was in the past.​

Hemp and hemp-based products, including cannabidiol (CBD) with the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration of such hemp (or its derivatives) not exceeding a 0.3 percent limit, are permitted to be mailed in domestic mail only when:​

​

**The mailer complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, and plans approved by the** USDA under 7 CFR Part 990 pertaining to hemp production, processing, distribution, and sales; and​

​

***The mailer retains records establishing compliance with such laws and plans, including laboratory test results, licenses, or compliance reports, for no less than 3 years after the date of mailing.​

​

Shipments of hemp and hemp-based products, including cannabidiol (CBD), are prohibited in international mail including items for delivery to overseas military and diplomatic Post Office addresses (APO, FPO, and DPO). USPS​

​

HIDTA, part of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, was established​

*in 1989 by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of​

***1988; *... ..its stated goal is to establish policies, priorities, and objectives to eradicate illicit drug use, manufacturing, and trafficking, drug-​

​

Authentic Genetics DNA Base Confirmed​

***Leaves of Grass Coyle calls her DNA typing system NMI01, after​

​

The National Marijuana Initiative, which is directed by Tommy LaNier in San Diego.​

***“He acts as our liaison with other drug task forces and ...​

***pharmaceutical companies and has provided us with samples to test,” Coyle said.**​

***” LaNier said using the database also helps authorities determine the seed stock being used throughout the world​

[/HEADING]

 

[beebopper]

Tom got screwed purple by Green Merchant. As I remember it he had to forfeit his shop and forfeit any revenue or allegiance to Sinsemilla Tips Magazine; his baby and a stellar mag unlike any other publication at the time.

I was managing a grow shop on the day that Green Merchant was launched and got served one their administrative subpoena. Took the job when I stopped shipping SSSC seed.

Almost all the grow shops & hydro companies rolled over like whipped puppies. They gave up their customer records, their shipping records, etc. without fighting at all. All companies except for Worm's Way, who fought every step of the way; and paid dearly for it. They tried to file 100% forfeiture against his multi-store company steal all of his investments, etc. Hell when the DEA raided his home they even searched his kids underwear drawers. Found nothing at all. Not even a single bud or pack of papers. Cost him a very fat 5 digits of $$ to fight the evil scurge; but he did, and ended up doubling the size of the company in a most majestic way.

I handled all their computer equipment at the time. For some wacky reason the DEA was not able to get even one byte of customer info, digitized shipping records, or the mailing lists (cough). Golly gee willikers, data storage was just a mystery to me (cough). I guess something like a sun flare must have happened to all them floopy disks (hey - it was the 90's) with which held said golden bytes of data (cough). By total geek error I fear that all the companies hard drives became irretrievably corrupted somehow (cough). Like someone had run the NSA's blackhat drive wipe protocol on all of them (cough). Danged if data wasn't hard to retain in the 90's (cough). [I should stop smoking I guess.]

Ended up in a deal for him to plead guilty to some lame, made up charges but keep his company. He actually ran the company while in work release. He was a stand-up and fight back guy all the way. Other small store owners just could not afford the legal fees, some big ass companies (like Hydrofarm) rolled over so fast it would spin your head.

The DEA's figures of seizure and operation results were SO off as to be absolutely comical.

Tom got screwed purple? tom and high times screwed everyone purple.
In 1986, President Reagan declared drugs to be a national security threat, leading to the involvement of intelligence organizations, such as the CIA, in gathering intelligence on drug-related activities.
Publications like High Times and Sinsemilla Tips, initially created to share gardening tips and advancements in cannabis breeding and production, became valuable resources for narcotics detectives.
By monitoring stores advertising in these periodicals and tracking customer purchase records, law enforcement aimed to identify and dismantle marijuana farming operations nationwide.
Steve Hagar, former editor of High Times, stated, "The reason why we showed people to grow in their closet was to get rid of the criminal element."
However, this approach raised concerns, as individuals growing cannabis at home were still breaking the law, thus perpetuating the "criminal element" they sought to eliminate. Hagar is also credited with writing the influential article The Man Who Would Be King of Cannabis, which highlighted the operations of Schoenmakers, an Amsterdam-based firm publishing the Seed Bank, an annual marijuana seed catalog.
As editor of High Times, Hagar played a pivotal role in legitimizing cannabis seed advertisements in the magazine, including those from the Seed Bank, and politicizing its content.
The claim that seeds were legal in Holland further encouraged readers to purchase seeds advertised in the magazine, fueling the growth of an indoor domestic cannabis market reliant on specialized seeds for indoor cultivation.
This raises questions about the ethical and legal implications of advertising internationally sourced cannabis seeds in national publications, particularly given the significant profits and operational strategies involved since as early as 1984.