SEC v. Richard J. Greenlaw et al. (unregistered distributions, 2018)

Judgment entered

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In 2018 a Maine federal court entered final judgment against Richard J. Greenlaw and twenty cannabis-related entities for violating Section 5, ordering $340,142 in disgorgement and interest combined and a $50,000 penalty.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$50k

Disgorgement

—

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$50k

Alleged gain

—

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

On October 12, 2018 the District of Maine entered final judgment against Richard J. Greenlaw and twenty affiliated cannabis-company entities, finding they violated Securities Act Sections 5(a) and 5(c). The SEC's complaint alleged he raised about $500,000 from at least 59 investors from 2014, advertising on Craigslist, with no registration statement in effect. The court enjoined them, added a conduct-based injunction against Greenlaw, and ordered him to pay $340,142 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest combined, which the release does not split, and a $50,000 civil penalty. The record previously showed the combined figure as interest alone and omitted the penalty.

This library tags the matter as unregistered distributions, based on the conduct the document describes. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Unregistered distributions — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2018-10-18 Litigation release published

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEC litigation release

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.