{"id":7521,"date":"2017-06-29T03:16:42","date_gmt":"2017-06-29T03:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com?p=2700202&amp;preview_id=2700202"},"modified":"2017-06-29T03:16:42","modified_gmt":"2017-06-29T03:16:42","slug":"federal-appeals-court-gives-colorado-marijuana-credit-union-another-chance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/federal-appeals-court-gives-colorado-marijuana-credit-union-another-chance\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal appeals court gives Colorado marijuana credit union another chance"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/federal-appeals-court-gives-colorado-marijuana-credit-union-another-chance\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-10 large-centered small-12 columns\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta-date\">Published: Apr 29, 2016, 6:33 pm \u2022 Updated: Feb 8, 2017, 5:05 pm<span class=\"single-comments-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/04\/29\/fourth-corner-credit-union-appeals-court-colorado-marijuana-industry\/53315\/#disqus_thread\" class=\"commentsNameLink\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\">By <strong>Alicia Wallace<\/strong>, <em>The Denver Post<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Fourth Corner Credit Union on Friday appealed a lower court\u2019s ruling that denied its bid to become the first Colorado credit union for the marijuana industry. <\/p>\n<p>U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson in January <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/news\/ci_29347393\/judge-tosses-denver-marijuana-credit-unions-suit-federal\" title=\"Judge tosses Denver marijuana credit union's suit for federal approval\">dismissed Fourth Corner\u2019s suit seeking a master account<\/a> with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Jackson said granting access to the Federal Reserve\u2019s network would \u201cfacilitate criminal activity\u201d because marijuana remains illegal under federal law.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cWe don\u2019t believe that the courts can rule on the potential of breaking a law before any crime has been committed,\u201d said Mark Goldfogel, Fourth Corner\u2019s executive vice president of industry relations.<\/p>\n<p> Fourth Corner\u2019s brief was filed in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.<\/p>\n<p>Other banks and financial institutions already are serving the marijuana industry under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fincen.gov\/statutes_regs\/guidance\/\" title=\"www.fincen.gov\">guidance <\/a>issued by the Department of the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the credit union noted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly hypocritical for the Justice Department and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to issue guidelines on how to do something while not allowing those industries who wish to follow those guidelines the ability to do so without the fear of prosecution,\u201d Goldfogel said.<\/p>\n<p>Fourth Corner <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/business\/ci_26980328\/colorado-pot-credit-union-could-be-open-by\" title=\"www.denverpost.com\">received a state credit-union charter<\/a> in November 2014 but was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/news\/ci_29008607\/federal-reserve-says-chartering-pot-bank-is-illegal?source=pkg\" title=\"Federal Reserve says chartering pot bank is illegal, refuses to do so\">refused a master account<\/a> by the Federal Reserve.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have created a system that allows billions of dollars to flow unsecured in the industry because our government bureaucracy moves slowly,\u201d Goldfogel said. \u201cAnd that scares me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Federal Reserve\u2019s policy is to not comment on pending litigation, said Scott S. Barker, a Wheeler Trigg O\u2019Donnell attorney representing the U.S. banking system.<\/p>\n<p>The Colorado Bankers Association declined to comment on the specifics of the litigation. \u201cAs far as we are concerned, nothing has changed,\u201d spokeswoman Amanda Averch said. \u201cIt remains illegal under federal law, and the Controlled Substances Act is very clear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As the case against the Federal Reserve progressed, it became apparent that the lower court\u2019s decision would not be the final determination, Goldfogel said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe knew that probably this was going to be a somewhat protracted court battle, whether we won or lost the first round,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>But Goldfogel said legal rulings made in the months since the January ruling give the credit union an advantage heading into the second round:<\/p>\n<p> \u2022 In February, a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thenationaltriallawyers.org\/2016\/04\/marijuana-insurance\/\" title=\"Harvested Marijuana Covered Under Commercial Liability Insurance\">Colorado District Court judge ruled partly in favor of Green Earth Wellness<\/a>, a Colorado Springs marijuana business that was seeking insurance coverage for plants damaged during the Waldo Canyon fire.<\/p>\n<p> \u2022 In March, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/news\/ci_29665899\/scotus-denies-oklahoma-and-nebraskas-proposed-lawsuit-against\" title=\"Supreme Court denies Oklahoma and Nebraska challenge to Colorado pot\">U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Nebraska and Oklahoma\u2019s lawsuit<\/a> challenging Colorado\u2019s marijuana legalization.<\/p>\n<p> \u2022 In April, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the Justice Department\u2019s case that barred the operation of the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana in California.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat really is, at its core, the same question: Does a cannabis- or marijuana-related business have rights to normal business protections and legal protections?\u201d Goldfogel said, adding that courts previously shied away from ruling in these matters. \u201cAnd that\u2019s changing literally right in front of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>Alicia Wallace: 303-954-1939, awallace@denverpost.com or @aliciawallace<\/i><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/marijuana\/ci_29831556?source=rss\" rel=\"nofollow\">This story was first published on DenverPost.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .row --> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal appeals court has breathed life into a plan hatched in Colorado to open a credit union for the marijuana industry. A three-judge panel for the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday vacated a district court ruling that nixed Denver-based Fourth Corner Credit Union\u2019s bid to receive a master account with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7175,6913,5062,6811,6897,7176,6813,7177,77,5577,6815,9,5019,6845,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[7178,6914,5063,6816,6898,7179,6818,7180,2655,5580,6820,5022,6846],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7521"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7521\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}