Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division is warning licensed businesses to not work with four individuals who had their licenses revoked.
Regulators issued an industry bulletin on July 8 warning that Au Hai Hau, Dang Hai Hau, Thanh Hau and Diego Armando Ramirez are attempting to engage in business dealings with licensed operators.
Regulators said each of the individuals surrendered their licenses after being accused of violating state cannabis laws and rules that undermined public and consumer safety. “Accordingly, these individuals are not permitted to cultivate, manufacture, or sell regulated marijuana,” the alert said.
Ware Hause, South Platte shut down
Thanh Hau was the controlling beneficial owner of Ware Hause in Denver. Duong Hai Hau, who was not named in the bulletin, was the controlling beneficial owner of South Platte Distributors in Moffat, Colo. Au Hai Hau and Dang Hai Hau were Ware Hause employees. Both businesses had medical and retail manufacturing and cultivation licenses.
Ware Hause, South Platte and the Haus lost their licenses under a stipulation order finalized on Jan. 21 by Heidi Humphreys, executive director and CEO of the Colorado Department of Revenue State Licensing Authority.
According to the order, the businesses, the Haus and other employees violated numerous provisions of the state Marijuana Code related to tracking and testing, including transferring medical cannabis to the retail manufacturing facility and submitting testing samples that were not representative of the batches tested.
“Testing was performed prior to additional Ingredients and/or Additives being added to make different flavors and Marijuana Concentrate was dispensed into cartridges manually for Test Batches but dispensed by a machine for the remainder of the Production Batches,” the order states.
They were also accused of submitting incorrect test sample sizes and failing to disclose all ingredients used to make products. And they failed to cooperate with investigators and provide required surveillance recordings, among other violations.
A complaint was filed last year, and they were scheduled to have a hearing in November before the Haus admitted to 25 violations in December. A South Platte employee, Timothy Minh Tri Dang, also admitted to the violations.
The order also states that the respondents did not admit to or deny 11 violations and associated investigation findings relating to the alleged manufacture and/or use of synthetic cannabinoids as alleged in an order to show cause.
“The Division is aware of ongoing civil litigation involving certain of the Respondents related to Synthetic Cannabinoids,” the order states.
Ware Hause’s and South Platte’s medical and retail manufacturing and cultivation licenses were voluntarily surrendered and treated as revoked.
The licenses of owners Thanh Hau and Duong Hai Hau were also surrendered and revoked, as were Dang Hai Hau’s, Au Hai Hau’s and Timothy Dang’s employee licenses.
The licensees agreed to pay a $40,000 fine. And the businesses had to pay an undisclosed amount of tax liabilities.
Investigations continuing
Heather Draper, spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Revenue, said investigations are continuing and declined to provide more information about the Haus’ and Ramirez’s recent attempts to deal with licensed operators.
She also would not provide more details on why Ramirez’s license was revoked without an Open Records Act request because “some investigations are ongoing.”
Regulators reminded licensees of their responsibilities under state law to confirm that any businesses or individuals they are doing business with have a current, valid license that has not been revoked or suspended.
“Licensees choosing to engage in marijuana transactions with an unknown party without conducting basic due diligence to confirm the party holds an active marijuana license may subject their own license to the risk of an administrative action seeking to fine, suspend, or revoke their license,” the bulletin said.
