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Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes

By TChris, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Wed Jun 22, 2005 at 03:20:59 PM EST
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by TChris

Just two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that federal law enforcement officers need not respect state laws that authorize patients to use marijuana for medical purposes, federal agents today raided three San Francisco medical marijuana dispensaries.

The operation targeted two cannabis clubs on Ocean Avenue and another on Judah Street .... Law enforcement sources said the clubs were not targeted for drug operations but say they were allegedly being used as fronts for money-laundering operations.

Federal agents, in some cases joined by San Francisco police, raided 20 homes and businesses in the city today as part of the operation, sources told The Chronicle.

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    Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes | 26 comments (26 topical)
    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:25 PM EST
    Did you really post that right at 4:20?? That's pretty funny ;)

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:25 PM EST
    Money laundering my a**. Why would anyone looking to launder money run it through an operation that, by its nature, might be drawing unwanted attention from the feds? They're just carrying out the Walters/Tandy doctrine: marijuana is evil and they must fight it and persecute asnyone involved.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#4)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:25 PM EST
    Yes and I'm sure they knocked and ID'd themselves before they tore those 18 homes apart.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:25 PM EST
    San Francisco police narcotics Capt. Tim Hettrich confirmed that his officers had assisted in the operations but had not taken part in the raids on the medical marijuana dispensaries
    “It’s a large scale operation,’’ said Javier Pena, special agent in charge of the San Francisco office of the Drug Enforcement Administration. The indictments that led to the raids have been sealed, he said, and he could not comment further.
    So feds busted 2 marijuana clubs for money laundering on the same operation where they woked with both the DEA and a narcotics task force to bust multiple homes for marijuana? And they weren't busting the clubs for marijuana? WTF! Do they think we are stupid?

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#6)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:25 PM EST
    The War on Cancer Patients marches onward with Bush at the helm.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:25 PM EST
    What Larry said. Generally the idea of a money laundering front is that the business is legitimate and can swap large amounts of clean cash for dirty cash - currency exchanges, casinos, betting shops, that sort of thing. A cannabis club would do neither.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#8)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:25 PM EST
    Tyranny folks, pure and simple. Imagine the reaction of Jefferson or Washington is the British authorities were raiding farms for their choice of crops. Seizing (aka stealing)the assets. Locking up the farm owners. No need to imagine actually, their reaction was revolution.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:25 PM EST
    The local gossip is that more than marijuana was being sold at these locations. At least one of the "clubs" was also a brothel. The Bay area has had a big problem with women being held captive and forced to work as prostitutes and this seems more about that and other criminal activities then about stopping people from selling marijuana. The locations raided are all in one neighborhood and operated by one group There are a lot of questions that still need to be answered but it seems this is about something besides medical pot

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#10)
    by Patrick on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:25 PM EST
    Tyranny? War on caner patients? Puhlease.
    Why would anyone looking to launder money run it through an operation that, by its nature, might be drawing unwanted attention from the feds?
    Ummm, because legitimate businesses don't do it duh? If you don't think some less than ethical marijuana clubs exist in California then you are dumber than I thought.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:25 PM EST
    people running marijuana clubs might be dishonest or using them as a front for non-medical drug dealing. come on-next thing you'll say is massage parlors might be fronts for prostitution.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:25 PM EST
    Patrick, Legitimate businesses don't launder money? Are you sure you're a cop? Get lost, troll.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#13)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:26 PM EST
    If this is the beginning of a statewide sweep, then it's truly pathetic and will make no dent in the supply or use of pot. Not a scratch. And the liquor stores remain open, the drug companies continue to TV blitz us, and the idiocy and puritanical hypocrisy of the feds on this issue is staggering. And Patrick: anyone who would try to launder money through a medical marijuana club is the dumbest piece of sh*t on the planet.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#14)
    by Patrick on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:26 PM EST
    Legitimate businesses don't launder money?
    Are you sure your a litigator? Where did you get your JD, a box of Captain Crunch? Show me one legitimate business that launders money and I'll show you an illegitimate business. I just love matching wits with you, but it's so unsporting of me.
    And Patrick: anyone who would try to launder money through a medical marijuana club is the dumbest piece of sh*t on the planet.
    Well, they don't call it dope cause it makes people smart now do they? If I thought you'd believe me if I showed you irrefutable proof, I might be inclined to try, but you're not going to believe anything you hear from me so it's wasted effort. How sad to have your world view.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:26 PM EST
    Ok Patrick, you are making a circular argument. Larry meant that many otherwise legitimate businesses are laundering money. Of course any business that launders money is illegitimate because it does so. The point of laundering money is to make it look like it didn't come from somewhere illegal though. What you propose is like laundering money through a chop shop. And you call it dope in a misplaced effort to group marijuana with harder, dopamine linked, addictive drugs.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:28 PM EST
    (Jeopardy theme song here)

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#17)
    by chupetin on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:28 PM EST
    If I thought you'd believe me if I showed you irrefutable proof, I might be inclined to try, but you're not going to believe anything you hear from me so it's wasted effort. How sad to have your world view.
    If its irrefutable,why not? I see you post here all the time, why waste your efforts like that?

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:28 PM EST
    You know, all I heard during the 90's coming out of the damn rightwing was "states' rights, states' rights". Now, with a chance to put their money where their mouths are, we see typical rightwing behavior....it's only a state's right if it furthers our agenda...otherwise, we can use the long arm of the federal government to reach right up your butt if we want to.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#19)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:28 PM EST
    "Show me one legitimate business that launders money and I'll show you an illegitimate business."
    Now that's what I call reasoning! Patrick, by definition any business that serves as a front for money-laundering is illegitimate. Someone of a criminal bent who wants to launder ill-gotten money is going to want to keep a low profile. They'd be far more likely to run their dirty cash through a cash-intensive decoy operation that doesn't invite a lot of attention. A medical pot club is probably the last place a money-launderer would operate.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#20)
    by desertswine on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:28 PM EST
    President Bush's uncle, Jonathan J. Bush, is a top executive at Riggs Bank, which this week agreed to pay a record $25 million in civil fines for violations of law intended to thwart money laundering.
    May I draw your attention to Talk Left of 17 May 2004. Here we have a very, very large legitimate business, Riggs Bank, well, laundering money. And not by accident.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:28 PM EST
    Patrick, Give it up troll. Cops like you are why I win a lot of cases. . .and why I love my job as a defense lawyer.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#22)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:28 PM EST
    I'm certainly no expert on money laundering, but I thought the folks who want to launder money, in general, are those who obtained it illegally yet want to make the money look as though it were obtained legally. Are not drug dealers interested in making illegally-obtained money look as though it were legally obtained? All med MJ houses in SF and the feds only bust the ones run by this one particular group. While I'm sure there are legit med MJ houses, it's funny to me that so many are so quick to proclaim the legitimacy and innocence of the houses run by this group, without knowing a dam thing about them. Oh well, I guess that's what anonymity will do for you.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#23)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:28 PM EST
    "Oh well, I guess that's what anonymity will do for you."
    So says "Sarcastic Unnamed One." Heh.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#24)
    by Patrick on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:28 PM EST
    Cops like you are why I win a lot of cases. . .and why I love my job as a defense lawyer.
    Assmuptions like that are why you look like an a$$ most of the time. I can't even imagine how you would define a win, no death sentence for misd possession perhaps? Sarcastic,
    Are not drug dealers interested in making illegally-obtained money look as though it were legally obtained?
    Exactly why commerical marijuana sales operations "claim" they are medical dispenseries. A seemingly legitmate cover for illegitimate operations. And the money gained must be laundered. Some here are very thick indeed. See Larry it's no so hard to wrap your mind around the concept.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#25)
    by Patrick on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:29 PM EST
    Quaker, I understand the point Larry and others were trying to make, but what they, and you seem to be missing, is these cannabis "Clinics" are the perfect place to launder money. They deal with large amounts of cash, with cash only customers and little record keeping. They are largely unregulated, with little or no reporting requirements to local, state or federal agencies. It's almost too easy. That is exactly the reason that SF and other cities and counties in California are fighting to keep more "clinics" from opening

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:29 PM EST
    Patrick, I'll tell you what's a nice win: "Not guilty" or "motion to supress granted" I get plenty of those because of arrogant cops like you. And I love love how guys like you blame us for being sleazy when it's your fault that the government loses. If you're as smart as you think you are, apply to law school. Judging by the comments you post here, though, yu'd never get in. Most cops can't.

    Re: Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes (none / 0) (#27)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:29 PM EST
    far be it from me to take a cop's side but they usually win-I realize at the criminal defense conferences that this unfortunate reality is downplayed.

    Feds Raid SF Pot Clubs, Homes | 26 comments (26 topical)