Bethel Park company at center of groundbreaking lawsuit involving cannabis cash in California
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A local company claims it has fallen victim to highway robbery, but the alleged perpetrators might surprise you.
KDKA-TV got its hands on a federal lawsuit that accuses sheriff's deputies of illegally seizing cash, putting the Allegheny County company more than $1 million in the red.
KDKA Investigator Meghan Schiller breaks down how this lawsuit could pave the way for the future of transporting cash tied to cannabis.
We're used to seeing armored trucks on the roads, some with big company logos on the side. But that's not the case with Empyreal Logistics. The company, headquartered in Bethel Park, is high-tech and discreet. So discreet, in fact, that the company's CEO wouldn't even show KDKA-TV a picture of what the vehicles look like.
"We are an armored car solution," Empyreal Logistics CEO Deirdra O'Gorman said. "So similar to what you're used to with armored vehicles, they go and pick up deposits from cash-intensive businesses and then count the cash and validate it on behalf of financial institutions."
Drivers safely transport the cash from places like restaurants and fast-food chains to the bank. More recently, they drive money from state-licensed cannabis dispensaries.
"Cannabis businesses are not allowed to use traditional methodology for payments," O'Gorman said. "So although most businesses are allowed to take Visa or Mastercard or e-payment, cannabis dispensaries are not allowed to do that."
That's because even though cannabis is legal in some states, it is not legal federally. So that is where Empyreal Logistics comes in. Everything seemed simple enough until the flashing red lights came on.
"They are targeting Empyreal's vehicles specifically, and they are definitely on the hunt for them," said Alexa Gervasi, an attorney for the Institute For Justice. "And as soon as they pull them over and find out they do have money, that's a cha-ching, they've hit the jackpot."
READ: Empyreal Logistics Lawsuit
In a groundbreaking federal lawsuit, Empyreal Logistics claims sheriff's deputies in San Bernardino, California lie in wait, pulling over the vehicles specifically looking for cannabis cash.
"Empyreal has never been cited for a crime," Gervasi said. "They've never received so much as a traffic violation, yet they've had over $1 million seized from their vehicles."
Attorneys with the Institute for Justice believe the federal government and the allegedly involved sheriff's office get hefty kickbacks from these stops. It's called civil forfeiture and Gervasi says it means the sheriff's office could pocket up to 80 percent of that $1 million.
"At the end of the day, it's just highway robbery," said Gervasi. "The government is stepping in, trying to connect this money to something nefarious, but they don't have any evidence of any crimes."
The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department claims the stops are nothing more than getting dirty money off the streets, posting this statement on Twitter after learning about the lawsuit: "The Sheriff's department has a duty to protect its residents from the threats associated with the illegal cultivation of marijuana. Over 80 percent of marijuana at dispensaries was grown illegally.
"I am confident when these claims make it to court, they will collide with the facts! My deputies are professional, and I am confident we will prevail!"
"It was such a forceful response that we took it to be a doubling down, maybe backing themselves into a corner because there's nowhere else to go, right?" said Gervasi. "It's so black and white, it's so obvious that they violated the law here."
O'Gorman hopes it all turns out to be just a big misunderstanding. But in the meantime, she's covering the losses for her clients, and it's adding up.
"Empyreal employs a number of former military and former law enforcement officers as our drivers. We're typically a partner with law enforcement," said O'Gorman. "We consider ourselves an ultra-compliant business. We're licensed in the states that we operate in, so this is a bit of a surprise."
The federal government has said its agents cannot interfere with something the states decide to legalize, including cannabis, so the attorneys in this case claim any sheriff's deputies seizing money and vehicles is a direct violation of that.