(Seth McConnell, Denver Post file)

Advanced Cannabis Solutions seeks to get back in SEC’s good graces

A real estate holding company that leases to the marijuana industry and sued an investor for allegedly being the reason why it was delisted from over-the-counter trading has settled the lawsuit.

Advanced Cannabis Solutions, formerly of Colorado Springs but now of Denver, filed the case in U.S. District Court in October against Stephen Calandrella, president of Colorado Springs-based The Rockies Fund Inc.

The publicly traded company claimed Calandrella quietly bought and sold more than 10 percent of ACS stock without letting the company know, as required by federal securities law.


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The Rockies Fund invests in developing and financially troubled companies.

Calandrella agreed to transfer back to ACS about 1.125 million shares of its common stock that he and the Rockies Fund held, and another 50,000 shares back to a profit-sharing plan that sold them to Calandrella, according to a copy of the agreement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We are optimistic this is a strong statement to the SEC that we’ve taken as much action we can against the person we believed was responsible in the first place, and demonstrate that we’ve done all we can to show the markets we are ready to be relisted,” CEO Robert Frichtel said.

Calandrella did not respond to efforts to reach him.

The Securities and Exchange Commission last spring delisted ACS from trading while it investigated. Petitions to relist the company remain under consideration.

ACS in October announced it had purchased property in southeast Denver, a former Bank of the West branch that it said will be used as a business incubator for the marijuana industry.

David Migoya: 303-954-1506, dmigoya@denverpost.com or twitter.com/davidmigoya

This story was first published on DenverPost.com