The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday that it has temporarily suspended trading in the securities of Denver-based FusionPharm due to a lack of current and accurate information about the company.
The SEC said questions have been raised about the accuracy and adequacy of publicly disseminated information about the company’s assets, the company’s revenues, the company’s financial statements, the company’s business transactions and the company’s current financial condition.
On Tuesday, FusionPharm announced that it will immediately begin offering guaranteed financing to state-licensed cannabis cultivators via its licensee, Colorado-based Meadpoint Venutre Partners. FusionPharam said it was organized to capitalize on opportunties present in the rapidly growing vertical farming and cannabis industries and its primary focus is the development of its patent pending Pharma-Pods, advanced hydroponic commerical cultivation systems.
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The SEC said that it is cautioning broker-dealers, shareholders and prospective purchasers that they should carefully consider the foregoing information along with other currently available information and any subsequent information issued by the company.
The trading in FusionPharm is suspended until 11:59 p.m. EDT on May 30.
In issuing the order, the SEC also issued an “Investor Alert” saying it has seen an increase in the number of investor complaints regarding marijuana-related investments. It noted, that it has recently issued temporary trading suspensions for the common stock of five different companies that claim their operations relate to the marijuana industry.
Among them are FusionPharm, Cannabusiness Group, GrowLife, Inc., Advanced Cannabis Solutions, Inc., and Petrotech Oil and Gas, Inc.
The SEC said it suspended trading in the companies because of questions regarding the accuracy of publicly-available information about these companies’ operations.
The SEC warned that fraudsters often “exploit the latest innovation, technology, product or growth industry – in this case marijuana – to lure investors with the promise of high returns.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939, hpankratz@denverpost.com or twitter.com/howardpankratz
