U.s. To Let Banks Do Business With Licensed Pot Shops

[GrassMonkey]

U.S. to let banks do business with licensed pot shops

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Friday issued new law-enforcement guidelines aimed at encouraging banks to start doing business with state-licensed marijuana suppliers, like those in Colorado, even though such enterprises remain illegal under federal law.

Administration officials said the policy shift seeks to address problems faced by newly licensed recreational marijuana retailers in Colorado, and medical cannabis dispensaries in other states, that must operate on a cash-only basis, without access to financial services or credit.

It remained to be seen whether many banks would feel sufficiently assured by the new policy, which the Justice and Treasury departments outlined in writing to federal prosecutors and financial institutions nationwide.

The guidance stopped short of promising immunity for banks. But it said criminal prosecution for money laundering and other crimes is unlikely if banks meet a series of conditions, such as avoiding business with marijuana operations that sell to minors or engage in illegal drug trafficking.

If banks turn a blind eye to illegal activity by failing, for example, "to conduct appropriate due diligence of the customers' activities, such prosecution might be appropriate," Deputy Attorney General James Cole warned in the memorandum.

The memo builds on guidelines issued in August when the administration promised new leeway to states experimenting with legalization of marijuana, saying it would focus enforcement against pot suppliers found to be operating outside of state regulation or as a front for outlawed narcotics trade.

The latest directive is designed to address public safety issues raised by legitimate, state-licensed cannabis suppliers' lack of access to financial services, officials said.

Proprietors of state-permitted marijuana distributors in Colorado and elsewhere have complained of having to purchase inventory, pay employees and conduct sales entirely in cash, requiring elaborate and expensive security measures and putting them at risk of robbery.

It also has made accounting for state sales tax collection difficult.

Last month, Colorado became the first state to open retail outlets legally permitted to sell marijuana to adults for recreational purposes, in a system similar to what many states have long had in place for alcohol sales. Washington state is expected to follow Colorado's lead later this year.

The number of states approving marijuana for medical purposes also has been growing. California was the first in 1996. It has since been followed by about 20 other states and the District of Columbia.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said last month that the administration was planning ways to accommodate marijuana businesses so they would not always be dealing in cash.

"There's a public safety component to this. Huge amounts of cash, substantial amounts of cash just kind of lying around with no place for it to be appropriately deposited, is something that would worry me just from a law enforcement perspective," Holder said on January 23 at an appearance at the University of Virginia.

The American Bankers Association expressed skepticism the guidance would make much difference. Pot sales still violate federal law, as the government noted in its memo, so banks are still at risk, said Rob Rowe, a lawyer for the trade group.

"Compliance by a bank will still require extensive resources to monitor any of these businesses, and it's unlikely the benefits would exceed the costs," Rowe said in an email to Reuters.

TWO MEMOS

A separate memorandum from the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) laid out the due diligence that banks should carry out, both before working with a marijuana business and during the relationship.

Financial companies should verify state licenses, understand the normal activity for the business and monitor for suspicious activity, the memo said.

"Now that some states have elected to legalize and regulate the marijuana trade, FinCEN seeks to move from the shadows the historically covert financial operations of marijuana businesses," agency Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery said in a statement.

FinCEN expects big banks will still be wary about holding the money of pot retailers with state licenses, a senior official at the agency said.

Still, after consulting with state banking regulators, particularly those in Colorado and Washington state, federal authorities said they believe the new guidance will get more marijuana money into the banking system.

Those most likely to open their doors to marijuana business first would be "probably some of the smaller or medium banks rather than some of the largest ones in this country," a FinCEN official said, adding that some banks were already in the practice of flagging money from marijuana businesses in their filings with regulators.

"The amount of money in this business is significant," the official said.

STILL PRESSING FOR CHANGES

Advocates for the marijuana industry said they would continue to press Congress for changes in federal law that would offer more reassurance and that would survive beyond the Obama administration. President Barack Obama is scheduled to leave office in January 2017.

"Congress must act quickly to solve the problem before we witness a tragedy," Michael Elliott, executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group, which represents pot retailers in Colorado, said in a statement.

The guidance would not protect banks from state laws, and if a wire transfer that moved marijuana-linked money touched a state where the drug is under strict control, a bank that handled the transfer could be open to state prosecution, experts in money-laundering said.

Individual banks may have difficulty identifying which state-licensed businesses would run afoul of the federal guidance, said Peter Djinis, a former regulatory policy official with FinCEN, now in private practice in Florida.

"These complicated and vague policies continue the uncertainty that banks have in determining whether to take the risk of conducting financial transactions with otherwise legitimate marijuana businesses," Djinis said.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/u-let-banks-business-licensed-pot-shops-010336669--sector.html

[trichcycler]

finally they're fair to the law abiding citizenry too, as fair as a bankster can be right

[GrassMonkey]

True, and goes to show that the politicians don't run this country the big banks do.

[trichcycler]

since AIG stood next to Ronald Reagan at his inaug, and told him to hurry up his speech.

[phaquetoo]

True, and goes to show that the politicians don't run this country the big banks do.

Yea untill they need another bail out!

 

 

 

 

It will be much easier to seize their money if it is in the bank.

yup I agree!

 

Peace

[trichcycler]

bailout, after they swindled millions of homeowners  

[phaquetoo]

Yea exactly, I couldnt have said it better myself!

 

Peace

[knucklehead bob]

True, and goes to show that the politicians don't run this country the big banks do.

Think , Executive Order 11110 , 1963 .

Edited February 15, 2014 by knucklehead bob

[GrassMonkey]

Yea untill they need another bail out!

 

 

 

 

yup I agree!

 

Peace

Yeah, the banks tell the government to write the laws that allow the bailouts to happen. Most of those crooks in D.C. worked for the banks before they became politicians.

[Spartyon]

Cracks me up how they say banks must follow guidelines making sure dispensers r not selling to minors, how r dispensers suppose to do that. Do banks make sure party stores dont sell tobacco and alcohol to minors. That's like we as patients are responsible for our doctor s writing recs. Should not be a patient s responsibility to police the doc.

[ozzrokk]

bailout, after they swindled millions of homeowners  

 

bailout, after they swindled millions of homeowners  

 

 

After and during........................ And still doing.................... and the Government paid them to do it.................

[bobandtorey]

Guidelines published in mainstream media now expose the federal government’s aim to spy on users of medical marijuana and the sellers of the substance, though use of the substance is

becoming legal in one state after another. Why?

While banks receiving the OK on working with marijuana businesses, these banks are also going to be required to gather information on medical marijuana customers, supposedly to prevent the

 

selling of the substance to minors, so that ‘improper transactions’ are not occurring, and to keep marijuana from going across state lines. The feds also use scare tactics to ‘keep banks from being

 

prosecuted’ when dealing with marijuana sellers, though they will be operating legally within their states.

 

 

Department of Justice spokeswoman, Allison Price, said:

 

 

“These guidelines, together with the Treasury Department’s guidance to financial institutions, are intended to increase the availability of financial services for marijuana businesses—that

are licensed and regulated — while at the same time preserving and enhancing important law enforcement tools.”

This seems like odd advice coming from the feds since some of the biggest banks have been known for laundering money from drug sales. HSBC violated the Bank Secrecy Act and laundered

 

millions from drug money in Mexico, and numerous banks have been given a free pass from the feds for money laundering for years, now, J.P. Morgan, and Chase, among them.

 

These are some hazy laws, to say the least. If marijuana was just declassified as a ‘substance without medicinal use’ then this wouldn’t be an issue. Here are some of the conditions that banks must obey:

 

• Checking for a proper license

 

• Verifying shop’s customers are legal buyers

 

• Verifying no ties to drug cartels (should be easy since they’re already customers of the big banks)

 

• Report suspicious activity of any kind

 

The Obama administration says it is providing the new guidelines to the banking industry to help facilitate state-legalized marijuana businesses and give them greater access to financial

institutions. This makes no sense at all.

Attorney General Eric Holder has brought up the fact that legal marijuana operations are dealing largely in cash because banks fear that any relationship with the ‘dealers’ put them at risk of

prosecution under existing federal drug and money laundering statutes. (Why do we call them ‘dealers’ when marijuana is a legal substance in over 20 states now. Do you call your pharmacist a

dealer?)

While the Treasury advisory was directed to the banking industry, a separate Justice advisory was issued to federal prosecutors across the nation.

 

 

“This… guidance should enhance the availability of financial services for, and the financial transparency of, marijuana-related businesses,” Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement

Network said in a written statement.

The Treasury advisory urged banks to conduct their own reviews to verify the legitimacy of the businesses that are required to be “duly licensed and registered” in their respective states. Wouldn’t

this go without saying? It isn’t as if the banks are looking up white-collar criminals or politicians to see where their cash comes from. It sounds like more control over a substance that can compete

with numerous industries in the current political schema – namely textiles, prisons, pharmaceuticals, oil companies, etc. What a sham.

 

http://www.prisonplanet.com/feds-advise-banks-to-spy-on-medical-marijuana-dispensaries-users.html