Two doctors invested $1.1 million in a Colorado hemp-oil company. Their money ended up funding a Costa Rican wildlife refuge.

Two Florida physicians have sued the owner of Full Spectrum Nutrition in Colorado Springs, claiming their $1.1 million investment in the marketer of cannabinoid-rich hemp extracts and products went instead to a Costa Rican wildlife refuge.

Dr. Josse Anthony Mazo and his wife, Dr. Maritza Rascos, both of Melbourne, Fla., have sued John Michael Merritt Jr., the owner of Full Spectrum Nutrition.

The doctors claim they were defrauded and they want their money back plus three times that sum in damages. Orlando, Fla., attorney Craig Brand this week filed a lawsuit on their behalf in Denver U.S. District Court.

“It’s all done as a sham,” Brand said Thursday, referring to Merritt’s business strategy.

Merritt is a “classic con artist” who preys on people who dream of making millions on the rapidly growing marijuana industry, Brand said.

Costa Rica is an animal lover’s paradise, Brand noted, but Mazo and Rascos never intended for any of their investment to go to the iRescue wildlife refuge Merritt was setting up there.

Read the full story at DenverPost.com