The Cannabis Regulatory Agency stripped the marijuana grower licenses from an Albion operation under scrutiny from law enforcement.
The CRA announced a consent order Jan. 23 against Hongrui Enterprises Inc. prohibiting the grower from operating in the state and permanently banning its owners, Kevin Sea and Connie Zhao, from participating in the industry.
The legal closure of Hongrui is mostly procedural. The operation had never made a legal sale in the market, had never passed a safety inspection and its weed had never passed quality testing, according to the CRA.
The consent order was agreed upon by regulators and Hongrui, avoiding an often lengthy and contentious administrative judicial process.
“Licenses (for Hongrui) are permanently closed and will not be renewed, reinstated, reissued, or reactivated, limited or otherwise, at any future date,” the CRA said in a press release.
Sea is a Chinese national and accountant in New York, and potentially never even saw the Michigan operations.
It’s suspected that the operation attempted and failed to grow quality, mold-free marijuana for the legal market, instead turning to the illicit market, including importing and exporting black-market marijuana to and from Michigan.
The CRA was in the dark on its operations for most of its existence, until the Illinois State Police intercepted a van transporting marijuana from Oklahoma en route to Albion in 2023.
Read more at Crain’s Detroit Business