Brokerages, investors and banks are executing trades of dozens of marijuana firms listed on federally-supervised stock exchanges despite a dearth of official guidance on whether the transactions violate U.S. rules against money laundering.
A little-noticed amendment to a U.S. appropriations bill could do what lawmakers and lobbying groups alike have failed to do: ensure that banks don't pay for taking on state-licensed cannabis companies.
The nation's financial intelligence unit will weigh whether additional guidance is needed on how banks should treat clients tangentially or directly associated with state-sanctioned marijuana dispensaries, according to sources.
Leaders of the U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control sharply criticized the head of the nation's financial intelligence unit for issuing guidance on how banks can treat marijuana dispensaries.
Banks can choose whether to keep accounts for certain marijuana dispensaries and report limited information to federal officials when the businesses are unlikely targets of prosecutors, the U.S. Treasury Department said Friday.
A number of marijuana dispensaries are attempting to convert their profits into securities and other investments to hedge against the threat of having their bank accounts frozen and subjected to federal asset forfeiture proceedings, say sources.
Tasked to consider whether it can offer regulatory relief to the medical marijuana industry, the U.S. Treasury Department may have few options to persuade reluctant financial institutions to bank state-approved dispensaries.
Banks that maintain accounts for state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries will not be the targets of federal prosecutions, the head of the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday.
More than 100 medical marijuana clinics have seen their accounts closed in the last 18 months by at least three U.S. banks concerned about regulatory repercussions, say cannabis advocacy groups.