Federal prosecutors say Chinese language buyers have been deceived into believing they have been funding authorized hemp farms after they have been in truth bankrolling one of many largest marijuana enterprises in New Mexico historical past. Investigators stated entrance firms have been arrange in California to cost buyers $20,000 to $50,000 for counterfeit cultivation licenses, whereas additionally demanding shares of the harvest.
The scheme introduced in outdoors pursuits that poisoned land, wildlife, and folks alongside the San Juan River by way of the usage of unlawful pesticides and unpermitted irrigation, in keeping with prosecutors.
“Exploiting employees, desecrating land and poisoning rivers for revenue is just not enterprise, it’s legal, and it will likely be met with justice,” stated U.S. Lawyer Ryan Ellison. The FBI led the investigation, supported by a number of federal, state, and county companions. Performing Navajo Nation Lawyer Common Colin Bradley stated the case resulted within the shutting down of huge marijuana farms operated on and close to Navajo land.
Former politician
Former Navajo politician and hemp advocate Dineh Benally pleaded responsible to fifteen federal counts that spanned drug trafficking, manufacture and distribution of greater than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, firearms possession, employment and harboring of undocumented employees, smuggling undeclared Chinese language pesticides, environmental crimes beneath the Clear Water Act, and concealment of data. He faces a compulsory minimal of 15 years in jail, as much as life, fines of as much as $10 million or twice the illicit positive factors, and every day environmental penalties of $5,000 to $50,000.
Earlier than the federal plea, Benally had already been cited in a number of state and county instances. In 2023, 15 Chinese language immigrant employees filed a civil lawsuit alleging compelled labor, saying they have been recruited from California with false guarantees, stripped of telephones and automobile keys, and compelled to work lengthy hours with out pay on marijuana farms.
Colourful previous
Earlier, in 2018, Benally ran for Navajo Nation President on a platform centered on industrial hemp, selling it as a path to well being, jobs, and infrastructure funding. He beforehand served as Vice-Presidential candidate and as President of the Navajo Nation Farm Board, the place he championed hemp improvement.
In keeping with courtroom filings, from 2018 to 2020 Benally and associates began greater than 30 farms masking 400 acres, with over 1,100 greenhouses on Navajo land. Employees included native Navajo and Chinese language nationals, some undocumented, who have been misled into believing they have been rising hemp. An unlawful sandbag dam and channel fill polluted the San Juan River to irrigate crops, resulting in Clear Water Act violations. Authorities ultimately seized 260,000 marijuana vegetation and 60,000 kilos of processed product.
January raid
The second section unfolded from 2022 by way of early 2025, when Benally obtained a state license for a farm close to Estancia. Inspectors documented pest infestations and uncontrolled circumstances, revoking the license in December 2023 and imposing a $1 million wonderful. Regardless of a cease-and-desist order, operations continued, together with tampering with a utility meter. A January 2025 raid uncovered 8,500 kilos of marijuana, money, firearms, methamphetamine, pesticides, and protecting gear.
