Hilary Bricken Investigations Continue

Hilary Bricken Under Investigation for Money Laundering By Alex S. Gabor Posted @alexXgabor @PenBancorp @IBARC @Youtube @Blogger @LinkedIn Hilary Bricken is a tiny outspoken lawyer who works with the law firm of Harris Moure, but she sure has drawn massive media attention, and now that of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, after these complaints have been filed by the Washington State Bank Activities Reform Commission with Federal Prosecutors. Fraud investigators for the Western Washington Bank Activities Reform Commission (WEBARC) based in King County are alleging that federal charges should be brought against Bricken and her associated law firms accusing her of misrepresenting, and providing false and misleading information to the medical and recreational pot industry in Washington State. The complaint alleges that she has assisted hundreds of her clients with laundering their illegally gotten gains from the marijuana markets by helping them set up dummy fronts in order to have money transfers appear legal. Other former clients have complained to the State Bar Association of Washington that her associates and her firm has taken retainers from investors interested in investing in the industry and then not returning the money after telling the prospective client that she cannot represent them. “Cash paid to the accounts of Bricken's clients under different names such as “Morgan Management”, “Wells Funding”, and other banking like names of shell corporations set up by her for her clients was laundered through more than 40 different banks in Washington State”, according to a spokesperson who did not wish to be named. With marijuana still illegal on a federal level in the United States, American investors in marijuana can be seen as violating the Controlled Substances Act, according to some U.S legal experts. The use of the banking system to transfer the proceeds of such investments could be seen as money laundering. Cash flowing into growers, processors and retailers bank accounts are laundered by the law firms to create a protective layer in order to purchase goods and services needed to grow the booming businesses involved in the marijuana industry. This includes real estate and mortgages secured by the same. In fact Bricken’s clients include some the largest growers and processors of medical and recreational marijuana in the State with legal fees in excess of $10 million being laundered through the Washington State Banking System. GW Pharmaceuticals of Great Britain is represented by local Seattle Law firms and has been making offers to buy 502 Licensed Grower Operations in Washington State, according to several people familiar with the company. When someone with a license from the State sells marijuana and pays an attorney to represent them with business and legal matters, those funds deposited into the banking system is dirty money. When that money is then reinvested through various means, it becomes laundered and cleaned, under the Federal Rules. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has been tracking investments made in state-sanctioned marijuana business in the United States. When asked by private investigators about the DEA's view of investments channelled through the legal profession into the marijuana industry in Washington State, through layers of lawyers and law firms who get massive fees for representing their clients best interests, which are often in conflict with federal laws, particularly the anti-money laundering rules established by FINCEN, DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said the agency is "most interested in those types of activities." WEBARC is calling for Bricken and her law firm’s bank accounts to be frozen pending further investigations by the FBI, IRS, FDA and the US Postal Service, and is seeking a multi-million dollar whistleblower award for ferreting out these bankers and lawyers who are fleecing Washington consumers of marijuana monies. North America’s marijuana market is expected to grow more than tenfold to $15 billion in annual sales within the next five years according to researchers of various economic models being implemented in Canada and the US. Christian Groh, a co-founder of Seattle-based private equity firm Privateer Holdings, one of the largest players in the medical marijuana sector, said "What we're doing here does not violate local, state and federal law." Timothy White, national risk specialist for Banker's Toolbox Inc, a firm that helps banks detect and report money laundering, said “investors in marijuana firms could be violating drug trafficking and money laundering laws”. "That is two violations of U.S. federal law. I don't see there is any way around that," White said. WEBARC has been investigating US Bancorp, Banner Bank , Umpqua Bank and 40 other community banks in Washington regarding their involvement in money laundering of ill gotten gains from the medical and recreational marijuana industry for the past decade in Washington State. These banks know or should know where the money comes from to fund the construction booms now going on for marijuana growing operations throughout the State, said a WEBARC spokesperson. The legal profession covering up all this money laundering should be prosecuted and jailed to the fullest extent of the federal laws available to prosecutors. "At best the investments in marijuana businesses are an extremely reckless thing to do, investors can and will be facing money laundering charges and any return on investment would have the taint of ill gotten drug proceeds," an attorney for the DEA said. "If they sought legal advice on this, they were grossly underserved," the official said. There have been no prosecutions by U.S. authorities of investors in yet, according to legal experts who have been closely following the burgeoning market. Payne, a DEA spokesman, said the U.S. agency has "limited investigatory resources" to pursue investors and is most interested in targeting those with deep pockets who pour large sums into the industry, such as GW Pharmaceuticals. In fact, the SEC has been negligent in following the money of the industry in Canada and the US. The discovery process is difficult in this day and age of paranoia over privacy issues, medical privacy, and terrorism. Sooner or later the conflicts between federal, state and local laws must be resolved by the Federal Courts. That will keep the millions flowing into the coffers of the law firms who will have to represent Bricken and her clients if the FBI, DEA, IRS and FDA decide to act on the information filed in the complaints. Behind all the legalized thievery of small business investors interested in getting into the marijuana industry is “big tobacco and big pharma” according to one former owner of a medical dispensary in Seattle who confirmed that the legal profession in Washington State is rife with unethical corrupt greedy lawyers who only seek to destroy the small farmers. Copyright International Bank Activities Reform Commission. All rights reserved. Information for certain parts of this exclusive story provided by John Tilak in Toronto, Brett Wolf of the Compliance Complete service of Thomson Reuters, Accelus in St. Louis, David Randall in New York, Amran Abocar, Douglas Royalty and Marguerita Choy. Syndication by members and journalists at Gorkana.com, Free and Clear Press Corps and the International Bank Activities Reform Commision (IBARC). Link to Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tdtco_vgX6-aL23M8657mi1leAwTWtXxw8xjlFacRN4/edit?usp=sharing