Where Pot Entrepreneurs Go When the Banks Just Say No
- 6 years ago
Where Pot Entrepreneurs Go When the Banks Just Say No
But everyone in the business can recall one or another infamous crime — clerks forced to open a safe at gunpoint in a dispensary on East Colfax; the murder of a security guard in Aurora —
and some spectacular heists have gone largely unreported, as when thieves broke through the roof of one grow and then cut open its safe.
Seefried says that about three-quarters of Safe Harbor’s marijuana-selling clients pay less than $1,000 a month per
account, considerably less than they would pay at banks, where monthly account fees are said to start at $1,500.
Elsberg walked into Behzadzadeh’s office and over to the satchel, which is about the size of a small purse — Elsberg,
who is 37, likes to call it Behzadzadeh’s “murse,” for man purse — and removed six bundles of bills.
“If we had bank accounts,” Behzadzadeh said, turning serious, “it’d be much easier.”
Growing and selling marijuana are, like using it, legal under Colorado law.
Behzadzadeh had agreed to pay $5,850 for the trim, and while Elsberg would collect at least
that much in cash at his first two stops, he liked to separate the money coming in from the money going out.
Six banks and credit unions in six states will begin taking on customers this month, including
a credit union in Colorado to serve the customers that Safe Harbor no longer can.
A division of the credit union, Safe Harbor Private Banking, provides checking accounts
expressly for the marijuana industry, in clear violation of federal law.
But everyone in the business can recall one or another infamous crime — clerks forced to open a safe at gunpoint in a dispensary on East Colfax; the murder of a security guard in Aurora —
and some spectacular heists have gone largely unreported, as when thieves broke through the roof of one grow and then cut open its safe.
Seefried says that about three-quarters of Safe Harbor’s marijuana-selling clients pay less than $1,000 a month per
account, considerably less than they would pay at banks, where monthly account fees are said to start at $1,500.
Elsberg walked into Behzadzadeh’s office and over to the satchel, which is about the size of a small purse — Elsberg,
who is 37, likes to call it Behzadzadeh’s “murse,” for man purse — and removed six bundles of bills.
“If we had bank accounts,” Behzadzadeh said, turning serious, “it’d be much easier.”
Growing and selling marijuana are, like using it, legal under Colorado law.
Behzadzadeh had agreed to pay $5,850 for the trim, and while Elsberg would collect at least
that much in cash at his first two stops, he liked to separate the money coming in from the money going out.
Six banks and credit unions in six states will begin taking on customers this month, including
a credit union in Colorado to serve the customers that Safe Harbor no longer can.
A division of the credit union, Safe Harbor Private Banking, provides checking accounts
expressly for the marijuana industry, in clear violation of federal law.