Mark Roy Anderson

What the public record shows

Mark Roy Anderson, 70, of Beverly Hills, was sentenced to 300 months (25 years) in federal prison for causing investors to lose approximately $18.4 million across two separate schemes. This is a criminal conviction — not an allegation.

The scheme — and the repeat pattern

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California:

• From June 2020 to April 2021, Anderson solicited investors into Harvest Farm Group, claiming it would harvest hemp and process it into medical-grade CBD isolate.
• From April 2021 to May 2023, Anderson ran a second scheme through Bio Pharma and Verta Bottling, falsely claiming the bottling companies held at least $10 million in purchase-order contracts from suppliers — backed by fabricated legal and business documents, including forged purchase orders.
• Critically, prosecutors noted that Anderson committed the second scheme while he was still serving a sentence in a prior criminal case — meaning he defrauded new victims before finishing punishment for defrauding earlier ones.
• Investor funds in both schemes were diverted to personal expenses rather than any real business operation.

Why a promoter’s history is the single most valuable fact you can check

This case is the clearest possible argument for one habit: before investing with anyone, search their name in court records and news, going back as far as you can. A person actively serving a sentence for fraud launched a second fraud scheme during that same sentence — a fact that would have been immediately discoverable by anyone who checked.

Why we rate this 1 / 10 — Avoid

Two separate convictions, a 25-year sentence, and a documented pattern of repeat offending — including committing new fraud while already under sentence for old fraud.

Red flags this case teaches

• Purchase-order contracts and business documents provided by the fundraiser are not proof — confirm directly with the named counterparties.
• Always check a promoter’s full legal history, not just their current pitch — PACER, state court records, and a basic news search take minutes and can reveal an active criminal case.
• A pattern of serial ventures in trending industries (hemp/CBD, then bottling) with no delivered results across either one is itself a red flag independent of any single scheme’s details.

Bottom line

Convicted twice and sentenced to 25 years — the second offense committed while serving time for the first. Before you invest with anyone, check their record. In this case, the record was already a federal fraud sentence in progress.

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