According to the Credit Union Times, in late 2021, Lucas Sirois, Alisa Sirois, Bradley Scovil, Derrick Doucette and David Burgess “allegedly committed bank fraud and other crimes after they opened credit union accounts that funded an illegal $13 million marijuana operation.”
Federal prosecutors disclosed three Maine credit unions and one bank at which the accused held accounts:
- Franklin-Somerset Federal Credit Union ($479,390)
- Maine Family Federal Credit Union ($46,819)
- Evergreen Credit Union and the University Credit Union ($17,870)
- Skowhegan Savings Bank ($232,000)
Additionally, 12 properties, 11 vehicles and more than $28,000 in cash also may be forfeited.
In Maine, medical and recreational use of marijuana is legal. However, the CU Times says: “According to prosecutors, Sirois and four other conspirators… falsely (claimed) that none of their deposits would be derived directly or indirectly from any marijuana-related business.” (emphasis added by CRB Monitor)
A situation like this is usually the result of account cannabis-related holders withholding and/or falsifying information when opening accounts in order to avoid detection, as well as the financial institutions failing to effectively perform basic KYC due diligence, and/or screening for unknown marijuana-related relationships, with common sense best practices. Often, credit unions and banks do not have any clearly written marijuana-related policies in place or any screening procedures to even attempt to identify this illicit behavior.
This case may result in significant seizure of assets, including nearly $1M between the institutions named above and multiple commercial real estate assets, which may still have bank-held mortgages on them (nb, this is unclear based on court documents). Noteworthy in the case details is the intention to distribute marijuana outside of Maine, highlighting that whilst the state may have marijuana-friendly laws, there are still unlicensed MRBs operating and marijuana remains illegal at the federal level. It has not yet been made public whether any of the depository institutions will face repercussions.
The Bangor Daily News quoted Erik Gundersen, director of the Maine Office of Marijuana Policy and Maine’s top cannabis official, as saying that “he believes there is more illegal activity within the industry and that the Office of Marijuana Policy has few tools to prevent marijuana from finding its way to the black market.”
CRB Monitor is an ally to banks and credit unions in North America, maintaining a comprehensive database of marijuana-related businesses and ownership, and both "Lucas Sirois" and "Alesa Sirois" appear in our database for Maine. If the credit unions and banks affected by this criminal case had run our database of owners, they would have clearly identified these accounts as being marijuana-related and requiring further investigation, possibly identifying the "unknown" exposure before it progressed this far.
To ensure that your depository institution is not unwittingly facilitating marijuana-related money laundering activity by holding accounts for unknown MRBs and/or their “owners, managers and seemingly unrelated businesses” that have not properly self-identified themselves, please contact us today to talk about screening your current customer base and future applicants.
For further details, see the Department of Justice’s press release and complaints: