Winslow Norton and Abraham Norton were released from the Alameda County Jail early this morning on federal criminal charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana, distributing the drug and money laundering.
The defendants both posted a million dollar bail bond each for their release. The bail bonds are secured by the Nortons’ mother’s house in Berkeley.
Prosecutors say the brothers made $26 million from the operation in the first six months of 2007, owned Mercedes Benzes and established $67,000 individual retirement accounts for themselves.
They each face a total of 23 counts in a federal grand jury indictment, including 18 counts of money laundering.
Harold Rosenthal, a lawyer for Winslow Norton said they ran a bona fide dispensary, helping people with bona fide medical problems. Their principal sin seems to be making money. The penalty for making too much money is to pay a lot of taxes.