you forget liebarrel INVESTORS
Liberal CFO could rake in marijuana money with legalization
Chuck Rifici co-founded Tweed Marijuana Inc., buying the abandoned Hershey chocolate factory in Smiths Falls, and acquiring Canada's first license to produce medical marijuana in Jan., 2014.
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He may volunteer in his role as chief financial officer with the Liberal Party of Canada, but Chuck Rifici is in line for a big pay day, thanks to one of the party's key platforms.
Rifici, who has been a member of the Liberal national board of directors since 2011, is also the co-founder of Tweed Marijuana Inc., Canada's biggest full-scale producer of government-sanctioned pot producer, which is based in Smiths Falls, ONT.
Ont.
"I'm simply a shareholder," said Rifici in an e-mail to the Sun on Wednesday.
In the midst of the recent election campaign, Rifici branched out with two new ventures.
He was named director of the only licensed medicinal marijuana grower in Alberta, and launched a new company that seeks to cash in on the legal marijuana trade in the U.S., where business is booming.
The sum of his work in the industry has critics suggesting his cozy relationship with the governing party could constitute a conflict of interest, especially if any of his private business interests are rewarded with fat contracts once new marijuana legislation is passed.
Rifici brushed off concerns about his political connections.
"As for my volunteering as CFO (of) the Liberal Party, I have no role in policy making nor in policy decisions, no role in the transition, no future role in government and, as incorrectly previously reported, I am not an adviser to Justin Trudeau nor am I close to him," he said.
Rifici had come under fire a year ago while serving both as CFO of the party and CEO of Tweed, with a spokesman for former public safety minister Steven Blaney telling Postmedia that legalization "would benefit Mr. Trudeau's close millionaire friends that are marketing marijuana to Canadians."
Rifici stepped down as Tweed CEO, insisting at the time the move had nothing to do with political connections.
However he is still listed as the single largest shareholder.
While Tweed currently deals strictly in medicinal cannabis, the operation is poised to expand its reach if Trudeau follows through on his campaign pledge to legalize recreational marijuana.
Rifici is already richer -- by nearly $5 million -- since election day.
With 7.8 million shares to his name in the newly renamed Canopy Growth Corp., Rifici watched the once-slumping stocks soar in the days following the election.
Shares that were trading at $2 at the opening bell on Oct. 19 spiked to $2.58 by week's end, with the value of Rifici's stake in the company jumping from $15 million to $20 million overnight.
But the Liberal party denied any conflict of interest in an emailed statement that closely resembled Rifici's own.
A party spokesman said Rifici's role "consists strictly of assisting the board on finance-related matters," and that he has no role in policy decisions, with "thousands" of Liberals adopting the resolution to legalize and regulate marijuana at the party's January 2012 convention.
"Our official position is rooted in the democratic will of our members and has nothing to do with Mr. Rifici's personal views on the matter," said spokesman Olivier Duchesneau.
Health Canada expects the number of Canadians using medicinal marijuana to rise tenfold, to 450,000 people, over the next decade.
Companies such as Canopy, though, are eyeing a much more lucrative market.
"We're excited about where we're sitting, because we are the biggest production platform in Canada, and probably in the world for legally available marijuana," said current Canopy CEO Bruce Linton, whose three growhouses in Smiths Falls, Toronto and Niagara are ready and waiting for the green light to open the supply lines to a vast recreational marijuana market.
"We have 500,000 square feet of production facility, which is, by any account, an awful lot. And so we feel kind of like the next race is starting, and all this effort and building and acquisition and construction -- it's a race and that puts us in the pole position."
It's put Rifici in a good position right from the firing of the starting gun.
In August, Rifici was named to the board of directors at Aurora Cannabis Inc., a Western Canada marijuana grower with similar aspirations.
And in September, with the election campaign in full sway, Rifici launched Nesta Holding Co., an investment firm specializing in "acquiring, cultivating and monetizing cannabis businesses for the U.S. market."
Several American jurisdictions have already legalized marijuana. Massive commercialization of the product in Colorado netted an estimated $700 million in revenue from recreational marijuana in 2014 alone.
Meanwhile, medicinal marijuana prescriptions in the state have tripled, attributed to the social acceptance that comes along with legalization.
Health Canada has estimated the medicinal marijuana market could be worth $1.3 billion in Canada in 10 years, and those estimates predate Trudeau's legalization pledge. There have been no reliable estimates on how much the recreational market might be worth if legislators end prohibition and regulate the drug in a manner similar to alcohol.
Chuck Rifici's Resume
1995-2005: By the time he obtained his MBA from Queen's in 2005, Rifici had already launched or acquired several telecom companies, including internet service provider Cyberus, and worked as a CFO with Select Start Studios, later sold to Shopify.
2011: appointed CFO of Liberal Party of Canada by interim party leader Bob Rae, an appointment upheld by incoming Liberal leader Justin Trudeau.
2013: co-founded Tweed Marijuana Inc., buying the abandoned Hershey chocolate factory in Smiths Falls, and acquiring Canada's fifth license to produce medical marijuana in Jan., 2014.
2014: went public in April, with Tweed becoming the first marijuana company trading on the TSX.
- named to top Forty under 40 by Ottawa Business Journal, alumnus of the year by the University of Ottawa faculty of engineering, and exceptional new business award by Ottawa Chamber of Commerce.
- stepped down as CEO of Tweed shortly after Minister of Public Safety Steven Blaney criticized the relationship between Rifici and Liberal leader Justin Trudeau.
Aug. 2015: appointed to the board of Aurora Cannabis, Inc., an Alberta-based licensed marijuana producer.
Oct. 2015: launched Nesta Holding Co., focused on “acquiring, cultivating and monetizing cannabis businesses for the U.S. market.
Liberal CFO could rake in marijuana money with legalization | Ottawa & Region |
