The co-founder of a major Illinois cannabis company who was convicted in a scheme to lease jets for a Mexican cocaine trafficker was sentenced Wednesday to one year in federal prison.
Last year, a jury found David Berger guilty of money laundering and illegally structuring cash transactions. He was accused of converting cash from a drug operation into private jet charters for Oswaldo Espinosa, who’s charged with importing thousands of kilograms of cocaine into Illinois and surrounding states in trucks and those planes.
In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso ordered Berger to pay $253,000 to the government — money he was accused of “structuring” into deposits of less than $10,000 to try to foil federal bank reporting requirements. He also must pay a $10,000 fine. He reports to prison Oct. 5.
Berger told the judge he was ashamed for getting involved in the money laundering scheme, adding, “Illegal drugs cause real harm and that is not something I want to be indifferent to.”
Prosecutors said Espinosa’s operatives dropped off grocery bags full of cocaine cash to Berger at his home in Ukrainian Village. Over about six months starting in late 2020, Berger booked 18 jets. He deposited the drug money into ATMs and paid for the flights with his American Express card. His cut was $54,000 — $3,000 per flight, authorities said.
Berger’s lawyer, Patrick Blegen, asked the judge to sentence him to probation, arguing he didn’t have any contact with Espinosa or other high-level players in the cocaine trafficking operation. He said a sentence of probation would allow Berger to help his wife — a doctor who treats Polish-speaking patients — care for their two small children.
Blegen said Berger’s longtime friend, Dmitri “Dean” Katamanin, was the one connected with Espinosa and simply asked Berger to help him book the flights. Katamanin owned a Miami-based jet charter company.
Blegen pointed out that Katamanin was never charged with a crime and argued that Berger was unfairly bearing the responsibility for structuring the jet money.
Katamanin died last year. Espinosa is considered a fugitive.
The judge scoffed at the notion that Berger was simply helping a pal and said he knew he was handling illegal proceeds.
“The motive is his greed,” Alonso said.
Berger presented the court with about 50 letters of support from family members, friends and people in the cannabis industry. He co-founded Ivy Hall, whose first social-equity dispensary opened in Bucktown in 2022 with Gov. JB Pritzker at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The company operates 10 cannabis dispensaries in Chicago and other cities in Illinois — the state maximum. Berger, 42, held an 18% ownership stake in the company, his lawyer said.
Berger resigned from Ivy Hall in March in order to allow an employee stock ownership program to move forward, Blegen said.
Berger’s state cannabis operator license also has been terminated, records show.
“Even after David’s sentence is complete, he faces what potentially amounts to a permanent ban from the industry in which he made his career,” Blegen wrote in a court filing. “That is not merely the loss of a job; it is the loss of a profession.”
