The founder of a Poway hemp products empire who had a history of legal tangles — including one with a potential prison sentence looming — was killed early Sunday after a green Lamborghini he was speeding in crashed and caught fire in downtown San Diego.
Michael Llamas, 33, died in the driver’s seat of the wreckage while a female passenger was thrown from the car.
Harbor police said Llamas was speeding north on Harbor Drive when he lost control and veered off the road near Broadway about 2 a.m. The 2016 Lamborghini he was driving struck a palm tree, then burst into flames.
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Llamas, of San Diego, founded Medical Marijuana Inc. in 2009. The firm has claimed that it may be the first in the cannabis industry to find a legal loophole allowing it to sell CBD — cannabidiol — products online and ship worldwide.
In the wake of the deadly crash, the company released a statement that read, in part: “The company mourns the loss of one of its visionary founders. Mr. Llamas was an incredible philanthropist and changed countless lives throughout the world."
The indictment, filed in Sacramento federal court in 2012, alleged he and partners orchestrated a scheme to have investors buy up unsold homes and residential developments from builders in California, Arizona, Florida and Colorado. The investors would obtain personal loans for the full price of the homes and not disclose the large price discount, according to the indictment.
Llamas and the co-conspirators would make their money by splitting the difference as a special fee. But when the investors’ lenders wouldn’t sign off on the loans because of the fee, Llamas and his partners caused false paperwork to be recorded, hiding that they would still get paid in the end.
Llamas pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and misprision of a felony — a charge that means he knew of a felony being committed by others and actively tried to conceal it.
One of his attorneys, Guadalupe Valencia, said Tuesday that Llamas has been on supervised release for five years and had performed well. He had been allowed to travel abroad several times for business purposes while the case has been pending.
According to court records, Llamas was supposed to be traveling in Europe when the crash occurred. A judge had recently granted him permission to travel to Switzerland for business beginning Nov. 3, with stops in Iceland and Munich, then back to New York and returning to San Diego on Nov. 20.
His sentencing hearing had been set for Dec. 5, where prosecutors could ask for no more than six years behind bars. Valencia said the defense was hopeful he would receive probation. Restitution was also on the table, between $1.8 million and $25 million, still to be negotiated, according to court records.
San Diego Union Tribune, 11/6/17