Trust Integritas stands out because of its Leaders.

Jewell Lim Esposito and Robert S. Ellerbrock III have been in the Cannabis Industry since 2016. 

Those eight years of investment of research, energy, and analysis must be measured in dog years, given all the researching, brokering, guidance, intricacies involved in the still very unique space that Cannabis occupies.

We’ve combed the entire United States. We’ve had to identify and vet those who have chosen to boldly leap into the Cannabis space:

  • Financial Advisors — 3(38), 3(21)
  • Banks
  • Custodians
  • Sub-Custodians
  • Accountants
  • Trustees
  • Third Party Administrators
  • Record Keepers
  • Investment Fund Managers
  • Payroll Companies
  • Mutual Fund Managers
  • CIT Trustees

To be honest, there are only a few of these service providers who know how to be in the Cannabis space. Many of them have not affirmatively committed to Cannabis. Many of them haven’t developed a full understanding of what it takes to handle Cannabis and the employee benefits to which Cannabis employees are entitled. 

We know which service providers are competently in the Cannabis/Retirement space.  We have collaborated with, instructed, and joined with their Chief Executives, in-house counsel, outside lawyers, business development staff, and compliance teams on how Retirement Plans for Cannabis companies should operate. 

We have plans where payroll companies can have their cannabis clients join. We have plans for those cannabis clients who are being ejected off various platforms. We have plans that serve as alternatives to the state-mandated IRA and retirement arrangements with which cannabis clients must comply, with penalties from certain states for not complying.

“We know which service providers are competently
in the Cannabis/Retirement space.“

We seek the same trust, confidence, and faith in these retirement plan providers as they demand of us.

Trust.  Integritas.  Trust Integritas.

PIONEERS IN THE CANNABIS SPACE

Trust Integritas is firmly in the Cannabis space because too many companies, their advisors, payroll companies, third party administrators, et al, simply did not know what they were doing with respect to retirement plans at all.

Many thought that, because marijuana was federally illegal under Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act, then consequently marijuana growers, distributors, or dispensaries could not have 401(k) plans. That somehow they were federally prohibited to provide certain employee benefit perks under the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA.  They thought Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code meant no 401(k) plan could exist. 

They were confused when the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp (carving it out of Schedule I controlled substance).

That particular Farm Bill should have alleviated any concerns in allowing a hemp company and its employees to access all types of retirement plans and health & welfare benefits.  Yet, nevertheless, retirement service providers were skittish and unsure of how to handle and be responsive to Cannabis companies who wanted retirement plans for their employees.

The service providers were confused how to balance the Internal Revenue Code’s non-discrimination rules.  How could a non-cannabis company participate in a 401(k) plan? Which would be required if a non-cannabis company had a cannabis company member of the same controlled group. Somehow, the cannabis company must be able to offer its employees similar 401(k) benefits. If not, the non-cannabis company’s fiduciaries would be subject to ERISA breach and tax rules for failing to offer its related cannabis counterparts’ eligibility into the existing 401(k) plan. 

Trust Integritas knows how to navigate this all. 

Under Jewell Lim Esposito and Robert S. Ellerbrock III, Trust Integritas continues to pioneer in the intersection of Tax, ERISA, Retirement Plans, and Cannabis. Trust Integritas drives results. Trust Integritas leads.

Jewell and Robert are repeatedly sought to provide guidance and clarity to national, key, and large-named players in the Retirement Plan Industry.  They solved for how all the Tax, ERISA, changing retirement plan laws, service provider, banking, payroll, money movement pieces all fit together. 

They quarterbacked and are credited with the very first solution for Cannabis companies to access retirement plans in the United States.