Business-Loan Kingpin Sentenced to 10 Years for Smuggling Weed
- Jonathan Braun built cash-advance business awaiting punishment
- Much of Braun's case remains a mystery with documents sealed
Flowering marijuana plants grow at a facility.
Photographer: David Ryder/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Jonathan Braun, a marijuana trafficker who built a predatory lending company while free on bail, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on drug-smuggling charges.
Braun, 36, had pleaded guilty in 2011, but his sentencing was delayed without explanation. In the interim, he became a major player in what’s called the merchant cash-advance industry.