Special to the Times
Suffolk County Sheriff Steven W. Tompkin was charged with extortion involving the purchase of an equity interest in a Boston-based cannabis company by federal authorities last week.
Tompkins, 67, of Boston, was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of Extortion Under Color of Official Right. He was taken into custody last week in the Southern District of Florida and is scheduled to appear in federal court in Boston at a later date, according to the Boston office of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“Mr. Tompkins is a sitting Sheriff, responsible for over 1,000 employees, who was elected by the good people of Suffolk County,” said United States Attorney Leah B. Foley last week. “Today, he is alleged to have extorted an executive from a cannabis company, using his official position as Sheriff to benefit himself. Elected officials, particularly those in law enforcement, are expected to be ethical, honest and law abiding – not self-serving.
“His alleged actions are an affront to the voters and taxpayers who elected him to his position, and the many dedicated and honest public servants at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department,” Foley continued. “The people of Suffolk County deserve better. Public corruption remains a top priority for my administration and we will continue to investigate and prosecute anyone who uses their position of trust and power for their own gain.”
As of early this week, neither Tompkins nor the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department had issued a statement on the charges.
According to court documents, in 2019, the cannabis company, which was not named in the documents, sought to open a retail cannabis dispensary in Boston and applied to the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) for a dispensary license. To satisfy the Positive Impact Plan (PIP) requirement of the CCC, the company entered into a partnership with the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department (SCSD) whereby the SCSD would help screen and refer graduates of its re-entry program to apply for work at the company’s retail store.
The cannabis company’s partnership with the SCSD was memorialized in a September 2019 letter signed by Tompkins and submitted to the CCC in its completed dispensary license application in or about March 2020, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In or about March 2021, the CCC approved a license for the company to operate a cannabis dispensary in Boston. The CCC later approved license renewal applications for the company in 2021, 2022 and 2023. In each of the renewal applications, the company included its ongoing partnership with the SCSD as part of its fulfillment of the PIP requirement.
According to court documents, one of the cannabis company’s goals was to raise capital to launch an initial public offering (IPO) and then continue its growth as a publicly traded company. Company officials, including a company executive identified as Individual A, sought multimillion-dollar investments from institutions or other high net-worth, sophisticated investors in order to raise capital. That company’s officials, including Individual A, were not looking to raise capital from the general public or small, individual investors. Beginning in or about mid-2020, the company began preparing for an IPO of stock, which included producing audited financial statements, hiring attorneys to ensure compliance with securities laws and obtaining additional financing from large scale and high net-worth investors, among other things, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
It is alleged that Tompkins pressured Individual A for stock, reminding Individual A that Tompkins had helped the cannabis company in its Boston licensing efforts. It is alleged that Individual A believed and feared that Tompkins would use his official position as Sheriff to jeopardize the company’s partnership with the SCSD and thus imperil both the dispensary license for Company A, as well as the timing of the IPO.In November 2020, Tompkins allegedly wired a $50,000 payment from his retirement account to an account controlled by Individual A. Tompkins paid a pre-IPO price of approximately $1.73 per share of company stock (equity equivalent to 28,883 shares) and after a reverse stock split, Tompkins held approximately 14,417 shares at a price of approximately $3.46 per share.
According to court documents, in or about mid-2021, when the cannabis company launched its IPO, the stock had a value of approximately $9.60 per share. Thus, Tompkins’s $50,000 purchase of 14,417 shares of Company A stock had appreciated to an approximate value of $138,403, according to the U.S Attorney.
In May 2022, company stock decreased in value such that Tompkins’s equity interest in Company A stock was worth several thousand dollars less than the $50,000 he originally invested. However, Tompkins allegedly demanded a refund of $50,000 and, despite the decrease in the value of Tompkins’s investment, Individual A agreed to Tompkins’s demands for full repayment of $50,000.
Subsequently, from approximately May 2022 to July 2023, Individual A refunded Tompkins $50,000 investment by issuing Tompkins five checks. Allegedly in accordance with Tompkins’s wishes, Individual A wrote memos on certain checks that read “loan repayment” and “[company] expense” to disguise the nature of some of the payments:
The charges of extortion under color of official right each provide for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release
“From his very first day as Suffolk County Sheriff, Steven Tompkins sought to portray himself as a man of the people – a principled public servant and reformer, devoted to the cause of justice,” said Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division. “That’s why it’s beyond disappointing that he’s now accused of gaming a system instituted in the interests of public safety and fair play. The FBI took Sheriff Tompkins into custody today for allegedly extorting $50,000 from the owner of a national cannabis retailer seeking to do business in Boston.
“We believe what the Sheriff saw as an easy way to make a quick buck on the sly is clear cut corruption under federal law,” Docks continued. “The citizens of Suffolk County deserve better, not a man who is accused of trading on his position to bankroll his own political and financial future. Public servants must be held to the highest of ethical standards, and those falling short will be rooted out.”
Tompkins was first appointed Sheriff in 2013, elected as Sheriff in a special election in or about 2014, and thereafter elected to successive six-year terms. As Sheriff, Tompkins oversees approximately 1,000 correctional officers and other employees responsible for operating and maintaining correctional facilities in Boston at the House of Correction and the Nashua Street Jail.