Gabriel Elstein, a Park City resident and former owner of Salt Lake City music venue The Complex, was sentenced to three years of probation in a criminal marijuana conspiracy case earlier this month.The indictment, which was filed in late 2018, claimed Elstein was involved in a conspiracy to transport hundreds of pounds of marijuana from California to Utah, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office. Elstein was indicted alongside his wife, Angela Elstein, and St. George resident Scott Gordon.“The indictment alleges the defendants obtained sizable quantities of marijuana for distribution from wholesale marijuana suppliers in northern California and recruited drivers to deliver marijuana loads from California to Salt Lake City, Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin,” said the District Attorney’s Office said in press release in October 2018 after the case was unsealed in federal court.The proceeds from the drug conspiracy were used to fund The Complex and Bondad Productions, a business focused on promoting music shows.“Beginning in 2009 and continuing to September 2010, Gordon and Elstein began construction on a music venue called The Complex,” said the press release. “The cost of the construction was at least $1.3 million. The indictment alleges that approximately $400,000 came from marijuana cash proceeds previously laundered through Bondad Productions and The Complex bank accounts. The remaining amount of approximately $900,000 was marijuana cash proceeds paid directly to companies and individuals involved in the construction.”Elstein pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute marijuana and conspiracy to commit money laundering in May 2024. Each count carried a maximum possible penalty of 20 years in prison and a total of $1.5 million in fines.The plea document states that beginning in April 2007, Elstein conspired to distribute more than 5,000 pounds of marijuana, which “generated approximately $10,000,000 in gross marijuana proceeds.” He also admitted to using the funds to maintain the marijuana conspiracy, renovate The Complex and financially support Bondad Productions, The Complex and a third company named Dumbles Holdings.“The venue for The Complex business would not have been possible but for the infusion of marijuana sale proceeds into the business,” the guilty plea document says. “The staging, lighting and built out were all paid for with marijuana proceeds. The business could not have been started but for the marijuana money. Prior to the end of 2013, The Complex struggled financially. Proceeds from the marijuana trafficking business helped cover the costs of the business and kept it afloat.”As part of his guilty plea, Elstein agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury Department $10 million. If he failed to do so, he would be required to forfeit any items he purchased with funds earned through the conspiracy, as well as his properties and ownership of The Complex.Elstein, however, who was described by federal prosecutors as “one of the most notorious marijuana traffickers in recent Utah history,” has already raised and paid the $10 million forfeiture, according to a sentencing memorandum filed in October.The sentencing memorandum states Elstein sold his interest in The Complex, his Park City home and a rental property in Midvale to Complex Property Holdings LLC, a holding company, for $10,200,000.“After purchasing the assets, Complex Property entered into a lease back agreement with Gabe Elstein for The Complex, his home and rental property. He plans on buying back these assets at some future date from Complex Property with the revenue from The Complex,” the memorandum says. “However, the defendant’s remarkable ability to satisfy the United States’ forfeiture claim represents the direct financial benefit the defendant obtained from his drug and money laundering conspiracies. Without the drug money to begin with, there would have been no $10,000,000 for the defendant to raise to satisfy the United States’ forfeiture claim.”Prosecutors argued for “a substantial prison sentence,” but Elstein’s attorneys asked for a probationary sentence instead. They pointed to his success while on pre-trial supervision for the past six years, as well as his ability to lead The Complex as a businessman after he left the conspiracy.Ultimately, U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups sided with the defense and sentenced Elstein to three years of supervised probation.The post Park City resident sentenced in marijuana conspiracy case appeared first on Park Record.