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A federal grand jury indicted the CEO and public face of the troubled La Mota cannabis chain on eight counts of tax fraud stemming from unpaid employment taxes in 2020 and 2021.
The charging document, issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon on Oct. 15, alleges that Rosa Cazares failed to remit $1.5 million in employment taxes over eight consecutive quarters. Those include Social Security, Medicare and federal income taxes.
The charging document says Cazares committed the tax fraud as the CEO of La Mota and its many related LLCs, including one called 503 Staffing that handled payroll.
Cazares and her longtime romantic and business partner, Aaron Mitchell, were the subject of a series of stories by WW in 2023 that explored how the couple expanded their cannabis empire even as the state and feds issued a growing list of tax liens against them, and as former business partners took them to court over unpaid bills and business deals gone wrong.
WW’s reporting culminated in the resignation of then-Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan. Fagan had grown close to the couple as they’d worked the state’s top Democrats throughout 2022 and early 2023, throwing suave fundraising events for the likes of Fagan and now-Gov. Tina Kotek. But Fagan, WW reported in April 2023, signed a $10,000 contract with the pair for nebulous consulting work—all while her office was conducting an audit of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, which regulates cannabis companies. Fagan resigned less than a week after the contract came to light.
Meanwhile, Cazares and Mitchell limped along with few consequences aside from reputational damage. They kept open more than two dozen dispensaries across the state and expanded more aggressively into New Mexico, where they opened a slate of new dispensaries.
But the pair kept incurring tax liens. Mitchell, for his part, alongside dozens of his LLCs, was issued $7.9 million in tax liens by the Oregon Department of Revenue this summer for unpaid balances stemming from taxes due as far back as 2020. The unpaid taxes included marijuana, personal income and withholding taxes—including $3.4 million owed for personal income tax from 2021 alone.
Now, the couple’s fortunes may have taken a turn for the worse. Cazares could face up to five years in prison for each separate count if convicted, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not respond to a question about whether Mitchell is the subject of a similar investigation.
