A former executive for Chicago-based Verano, one of the largest cannabis companies in the United States, was federally indicted on charges of insider trading.
The indictment Thursday accused Anthony Marsico, 39, of Bartlett, Illinois, of using confidential information to make an illegal profit of about $607,000 by buying stock in another marijuana company that Verano planned to acquire.
The deal to buy Minneapolis-based Goodness Growth Holdings Inc., now named Vireo Growth Inc., fell through. The two companies remain in court fighting over the failed deal.
Marsico’s lawyers, Todd Pugh and Patrick Blegen, told the Tribune their client was innocent of the charges.
“Mr. Marsico had a long-term and well-documented history of investing in the cannabis related financial sector,” the attorneys said in a statement. “Our investigation shows that Mr. Marsico’s investment activity was based solely on public and non-proprietary information.”
Marsico was indicted along with three golf buddies from a private country club with whom he hatched the plan, according to the indictment.
The other defendants were named as financial adviser Arthur Pizzello, Jr., 61, of suburban Wayne and of Marco Island, Florida; Robert Quattrocchi, 63, of Schaumburg; and Timothy Carey, 57, of Hanover Park. Pizzello co-owned the country club, was a financial adviser who surrendered his license, authorities stated, is an area vice president at a publicly traded insurance broker and human resource benefits company, and co-owns a leadership consulting company based in Carmel, Indiana. Pizzello also invested in Verano through a “friends and family” offering before its initial public offering in 2021, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The friends regularly called and texted each other, and golfed, gambled and socialized together, the filing stated.
Marsico co-owned a forerunner entity that was subsumed by Verano in 2018, according to the indictment, and was executive vice president at Verano, responsible for municipal government relations and real estate, including getting approvals to open cannabis dispensaries.
The defendants hatched the scheme in December of 2021, after Marsico learned Verano was trying to acquire Goodness Growth, the indictment stated.
Marsico opened and funded a brokerage account and bought more than 900,000 shares of Goodness Growth stock in 359 separate transactions for a total of approximately $1.5 million in the Canadian over-the-counter market, prosecutors alleged.
The acquisition was publicly announced on Feb. 1, 2022. Goodness Growth’s share price that day “skyrocketed” to about $2.34, representing a 42% increase.
Marsico made profits of more than $607,000, according to the indictment, which the government wants to recoup.
Verano ended up terminating the acquisition agreement in October 2022, and in a statement said it follows all securities laws.
“We strongly condemn the alleged actions taken by a former employee, and upon learning of the alleged conduct, fully cooperated with authorities investigating this matter,” the Verano statement read in part.
“The alleged actions by this former employee, who was terminated a year ago, had no material impact on our business and have no bearing on our operations moving forward.”
Verano owns 14 cultivation facilities nationwide, with more than 120 stores and 4,000 employees. Vireo operates retail dispensaries and marijuana-growing facilities in New York, Minnesota and New Mexico.
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