Financial crimes

Documents from Massachusetts complicate the narrative that marijuana businesses either can’t get bank accounts or are only being served by small institutions.

Attorney General-designate Sen. Jeff Sessions R-Ala., could pose a roadblock for marijuana businesses seeking financial services, but might also end a controversial Justice Department program targeting payment processors and financial institutions.

Scandal, business models gone awry, missing money and executive shake-ups — 2016 had it all. Here are the financial services executives or groups of them who took the heat and will be looking for better times in 2017.

Ameris Bancorp in Georgia wanted to buy a premium-finance business but settled for a joint venture, blessed by its regulators, after being flagged for insufficient Bank Secrecy Act compliance.

Following the passage of the November ballot initiative, it is hugely important that cannabis businesses in the nation's largest state be able to secure bank accounts, at a minimum.

WASHINGTON — Senate lawmakers are putting pressure on the Treasury Department's financial crimes unit to clarify to banks that businesses hired by marijuana growers and dispensers should not be treated like pot firms themselves.

Federal banking regulators are dismissing claims that they are pressuring banks to cut ties with payday lenders, arguing that the lenders' recent request for a court order against the agencies rests on erroneous speculation and bad legal arguments.

Despite gains for the legalization effort in the November election, the disconnect between federal and state law preserves uncertainty for banks catering to pot businesses.

A Republican president and GOP-controlled Congress have the opportunity to disentangle the current regulatory web that leads to overlapping jurisdiction and duplicative rules.

President-elect Trump faces legal questions over his idea to hold remittances ransom to fund a wall in Mexico, but the industry should take the threat seriously.