Many cannabis-touching businesses are cash-intensive since they are unable to use traditional banks or credit cards for transactions. This necessitates the use of cash transport companies to move money from one location to another.
Empyreal, a Pennsylvania-based money transportation company, has filed suit in the Central District of California, accusing the FBI and the San Bernadino County Sheriff’s Department of scheming to illegally pull over company vehicles and seize money from its marijuana dispensary clients.
The lawsuit claims that Empyreal vehicles have been stopped five times on trips between Kansas and California by local law enforcement since May 2021. Twice, these stops resulted in cash seizures of over $1 million, which was then turned over to the FBI. The suit claims these seizures amounted to “highway robberies.”
Empyreal claims in its lawsuit that the company and its clients “operate in full compliance with applicable state cannabis laws and all applicable federal and state money laundering compliance requirements,” yet it remains unclear what violations that federal agents were asserting to allegedly seize money from the company.
In a written response to the suit, the Justice Department insisted that Empyreal lacked legal standing in the lawsuit, as the company merely served as a transport service for money owned by the cannabis dispensaries.
The sheriff’s office has alleged that over 80% of marijuana at dispensaries was grown illegally, and that illegal cultivation sites have created quality-of-life issues for many San Bernadino residents.
The lawsuit alleges that “not a single traffic citation was issued to an Empyreal driver during any of the traffic stops discussed in this complaint,” and further claims that “[d]efendants know that Empyreal vehicles are transporting the cash proceeds of state-legal cannabis businesses and want to seize that money and forfeit it using civil forfeiture.”
Empyreal’s lawyers claim that during a traffic stop in November 2021, deputies covered up their vehicles’ dashboard cameras and seized $700,000 of legal currency from a vehicle, the vehicle itself and the driver’s cell phones. The company alleges that the cannabis businesses are state-licensed and operating legally under California state law.
A request by Empyreal for a temporary restraining order, allowing it to resume operations without fear of law enforcement intervention was denied.
Editor’s Note: This lawsuit is merely the latest example of the legally convoluted system of federal versus state marijuana law enforcement. At the time of this writing, cannabis remains a Schedule 1 drug, while 36 states have legalized cannabis with a doctor’s recommendation, twelve states have laws that limit THC content, and cannabis use is legal in 18 states and decriminalized in another 13 states.
