FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.–A candidate for agriculture commissioner in Florida said Wells Fargo has closed her campaign’s accounts citing her support for medical marijuana.
Nikki Fried, a Democrat running for the office, has made expansion of the state’s medical marijuana program among her highest priorities. Prior to declaring her candidacy, Fried ran a lobbying firm, Igniting Florida, where she described herself as “one of most visible faces and key activists in Florida’s burgeoning medical cannabis industry.”
According to Fried, in July Wells Fargo asked Fried whether her campaign would be receiving money from “lobbyists from the medical marijuana industry in any capacity.”
When the campaign replied that it would be accepting donations from cannabis industry lobbyists, as well as “executives, employees and corporations in the medical marijuana industry,” Wells Fargo sent a written notice that it was closing the account.
Fried then held a press conference in Tallahassee, Fla., at which she urged supporters to pull their money from the bank.
The issue is one familiar to credit unions: while medical marijuana is legal in Florida, it remains illegal under federal law.
In a statement to the New York Times, a Wells Fargo spokesperson declined to discuss Fried’s case specifically, but said the bank has a policy of avoiding the marijuana industry.