ALEXANDRIA, Va.—While credit unions continue to wrestle with legal issues surrounding the marijuana industry, and as Colorado has chartered a credit union to serve related businesses, the federal government is “stockpiling hundreds of "suspicious activity reports" that could provide agents with sufficient evidence to shut down any state-legalized marijuana business,” according to USA Today.
“These reports are poised like a blade over the budding industry should federal laws be enforced,” USA Today said in its analysis.
Seeking to head off SARs, USA Today quoted an executive with the Colorado Bankers Association as saying marijuana businesses have been literally laundering cash and drying it in clothes dryers using Febreeze in order to remove the “distinct odor” of cash that has come from a marijuana-related business.
This risk of federal prosecution has led some cannabis companies to literally launder their money.
The fear for bankers, the executive told USA Today, is being “charged with money laundering yourself."
USA Today reported that the federal government has already collected more than 1,100 reports that implicate different cannabis companies in financial crimes nationwide.
Between February and August 2014, banks filed more than 475 "Marijuana Termination" suspicious activity reports — indicating they closed hundreds of accounts because of possible criminal activity, according to USA Today, which quoted one person as saying relatives had lost their personal bank accounts as a result of operating a dispensary. Now, all employees are paid in cash, even though it raises the risk of potential crime.
Noting that FinCEN has issued guidelines for dealing with pot businesses but that Congress has not legalized banking for such businesses, U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) recently wrote a letter to the agency stating, "(FinCEN's) guidance is dangerously misleading. Indeed, following the guidance may expose financial institutions to civil or criminal liability."
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