Cease and desist order issued to Colorado marijuana business owner

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By Rebecca Laurie

Special to The SUN

The Securities Commissioner for the Colorado Division of Securities, part of the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), recently issued a cease and desist order to Ryan M. Quinn, stipulating that he can no longer illegally solicit investments for a marijuana business in Colorado.

Quinn, who during the months of April and May 2015, posted Craigslist advertisements seeking “high net worth investors to strategically partner with one of the largest MMJ chains in Colorado,” was found by the division to be conducting these solicitations improperly.

“We know that fraudsters often capitalize on headline-grabbing opportunities,” stated Colorado Securities Commissioner Gerald Rome. “Because of this, marijuana investments can be speculative and risky. In addition, they can cause investors to run afoul of the federal Controlled Substances Act, which still considers marijuana an illegal substance. At worst, many of the unregistered solicitations for investments in marijuana are so-called ‘pump-and-dump’ scams that exploit the headline-making nature of the business to artificially pump up the price of their shares, and then when the stock is at its height the insiders sell, or dump their shares, for a profit and leave others with worthless investments.”

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