The Texas Securities Board, which functions in Texas much as the Securities & Exchange Commission does for the United States, accused the Whiskey & Wealth Club of violating U.S. securities statutes in selling pallets of whiskey. Now, the Texas Securities Commissioner has determined that Whiskey & Wealthy didn’t engage in securities investment or trading or trading under U.S. law.
Before any evidence was presented, the Board accused the company of “engaging in fraud in connection with the offer for sale of securities” which threatened to do the public “irreparable harm” – statements they have now totally retracted.
The agreement to dismiss these accusations filed on July 7 also found Whiskey & Wealth Club did not engage in illegal acts in connection to the offer or sale of securities and did not make statements to deceive the public.
The Board also dismissed allegations and orders against individual Whiskey & Wealth employees.
Commenting on the dismissal, Whiskey & Wealth co-founder Jay Bradley said the decision now paves the way for a highly regulated business model to flourish in the United States, where sales of Irish whiskey – the fastest growing premium spirit in the world – are forecast to overtake Scotch by 2030.
“This is a hugely important victory for Whiskey & Wealth Club in a case that has been hanging over our business for eight months and which cost a significant amount of money in legal fees, drained resources, and defamed our company, yet now paves the way for our cask wholesale business to prosper in the United States and around the world,” Bradley said.
“The Securities Board has now rectified its mistake and recognized our substantial co-operation with the investigation. The retraction and dismissal of the case is the closest thing to an apology that we are going to get,” he said.
The new order states that Whiskey & Wealth Club cooperated with the Enforcement Division and provided relevant records and information about its business to the Enforcement Division.