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Over the summer, while I was downing cold beers by the barrel rather than blogging, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and the NCUA finally acted on the applications of Fourth Corner Credit Union for, respectively, a "master account" for access to the Federal Reserve System and for insurance of share accounts. In both cases, the answer was not only "No," but "Hell, No!" Fourth Corner sued both the NCUA and the Fed. last week, the Fed filed a Motion to Dismiss Fourth Corner's complaint that ought to send a chill down the spine of every bank in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska that thinks it can "work around" the federal banking regulators on the Supremacy Clause when it comes to banking a state-legal, federal-illegal marijuana business.
In broad strokes, the Fed alleges that federal law, in this case the Controlled Substances act, trumps state law on marijuana use by virtue of the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution. This should be "Hornbook Law" to any bank regulatory attorney. The manufacture, sale, and distribution of marijuana is prohibited by the Controlled Substances Act. Therefore, "any affirmative action that Colorado has taken to facilitate the distribution of marijuana is preempted by federal law."
In the present case, Colorado attempted to grant TFCCU a charter that would, in effect, intentionally allow TFCCU to aid and abet violations of federal law by offering banking services to businesses engaged in the manufacture and/or distribution of marijuana. Such an act is preempted by federal law and is void and without effect...The Court would not aid other such attempts--such as if Colorado enacted a scheme to allow trade in endangered species or trade with north Korea in derogation of federal laws, and then chartered a credit union to handle finances for companies conducting such illegal trade...TFCCU is not an entity that can be recognized under federal law" and the credit union's complaint must be dismissed.
Beyond the "master account" and insurance of accounts applications at issue here, the Motion to Dismiss contains a broad condemnation for any existing financial institution--credit union or bank--that thinks that it is somehow safely avoiding federal criminal law prosecution and/or bank regulatory agency enforcement action because it follows the "FinCEN Guidance" issued in early 2014 that, in turn, followed the "Cole Memorandum" guidance provided to US Attorneys on prosecutorial discretion in the area state-legal marijuana businesses. The Fed contends that such "guidance" is not a protection from criminal prosecution (which the guidance itself states, if read carefully). Even if it affords such protection, the Fed makes clear that the Fed would not be bound by it.
The Fed also makes clear that it considers any financial institution that engages in providing financial services to a state-legal marijuana business to be engaging in aiding and abetting a criminal activity under federal law, and that federal law controls. Under that analysis, the Fed should, if it is consistent, take enforcement action against any Fed-member bank that is so engaged. I fail to see why the OCC, FDIC, or NCUA would take a contrary position.
An anonymous (naturally) critic from Dogpatch, U.S.A., attempted to leave a comment on the blog a few months ago that criticized my support of (the critic's phrase) "federal infallibility" regarding state marijuana laws. The poor soul apparently conflated "Papal Infallibility," a theological doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, with the constitutional principle of "Federal Supremacy. The issue at stake is not who is "right" or "wrong" regarding whether the manufacture and distribution of marijuana for recreational use should or should not be illegal, it is whose law prevails when state and federal law conflict on this matter. My view is that federal law prevails and that any financial institution (and its directors, officers, and employees) that "banks" a state-legal marijuana business is running a serious risk of being hammered by different federal agencies for violating federal criminal laws.
If your credit union's or bank's business plan is "I feel lucky today," more power to you. I think that you're playing with fire and not wearing an asbestos suit.
