© Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) visits the House and Senate chambers during the final day of the Maryland legislative session at the State House on April 10.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) has moved $2.5 million in stock and other liquid assets into a blind trust, including a large stake in a medical marijuana company set to expand as the state legalizes recreational cannabis this summer.
Moore administration officials announced the trust Monday, ahead of the administration’s plan to sign a bill this month that gives the state’s existing medical marijuana purveyors the first crack at licenses for the recreational industry.
“We did this so that we can make sure that he’s working in the best interest in the state of Maryland,” Moore’s communications director, David Turner, told reporters about the governor’s stock holdings. “He does not own it anymore. He is following the letter of the law.”
Moore, elected in November, amassed wealth in a variety of professional roles, including as an investment banker at Deutsche Bank in London and with Citigroup in New York, as the head of a poverty-fighting nonprofit called the Robin Hood Foundation, and through serving on various company boards.
In March, Moore resigned his position as a board member of Green Thumb Industries, a national cannabis company that operates in 15 states including Maryland, running both manufacturing and retail operations under a variety of brands. Moore retained the stock until last week, when it was transferred into the trust and valued at $1.1 million, according to records released by the administration Monday.
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The blind trust represents only the readily marketable — or more liquid — portion of Moore’s wealth. It does not include real estate holdings that are listed on his financial disclosure forms, including investment properties the governor owns through limited liability companies, nor does it include his personal residence in Baltimore, which is on the market for $2.75 million.
The trust also fulfills a campaign promise from Moore and marks a departure from how his predecessor, Larry Hogan (R), handled his wealth. Hogan’s trust held the assets of his commercial real estate company and was run by his brother and business partner, who was permitted to give certain updates to Hogan on the company. Moore’s trust is managed by Brown Advisory, an independent Maryland investment firm, and he will only be provided updates required for filing his taxes.
Both trusts were reviewed and approved by the Maryland State Ethics Commission.
Moore’s staff released a 27-page document Monday detailing how his trust is structured, along with the value of all the assets moved into it on April 24. State officials said the trust was approved on April 27 by the ethics commission, which makes confidential rulings.
His staff noted that the blind trust was established months earlier than those of his two Republican predecessors.
Under the structure of the trust, Brown Advisory has 90 days to reduce Moore’s holdings in Green Thumb Industries from 46 percent to less than 20 percent of the trust’s assets. The trust is required to be diversified. After Green Thumb, Moore’s second most valuable holding is stock in Maryland-based Under Armour, an athletic clothing company. Moore served on the company’s board until after his election Nov. 11 and has 8 percent of his $2.5 million portfolio invested in the firm.
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