John “Jack” Griffin, a 62-year-old resident of Philadelphia and founder of Second Story Farming Inc., has pled guilty to charges of wire fraud and tax evasion. The plea was entered before United States District Judge Chad F. Kenney.
Griffin's company, also known as Metropolis Farms, was involved in vertical farming operations, including the development and sale of sustainable farming technologies. In 2017, Griffin sold vertical farming systems to two companies, providing them with inflated financial projections that misrepresented potential revenues and understated operational costs.
The companies paid for these systems based on the misleading information. Instead of fulfilling his contractual obligations, Griffin diverted the funds for personal expenses and to support Second Story Farming’s research activities.
Additionally, Griffin failed to file a tax return for income earned in 2017. He attempted to hide this income by transferring funds from his business accounts to personal accounts and withdrawing cash.
Griffin is set to be sentenced on October 22. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each wire fraud charge and five years for the tax evasion charge.
The investigation was conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation, the FBI, and the United States Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis Weber and Trial Attorney Catriona Coppler are prosecuting the case.
