The lawsuit was filed Jan. 30 in Denver County District Court by Matt Cochran, former chief operating officer of the CUSO, Safe Harbor Services LLC, which is owned by Partner Colorado CU, and Mindy Ganze, former operations officer for the CUSO, who also previously served as a personal assistant to Seefried. Cochran and Ganze are married.

"Ms. Seefried knew that Ms. Ganze had seen Ms. Seefried use cocaine on at least five occasions: two times in Perry's Restaurant, one time in Redlands Restaurant, once in Ms. Ganze's house and once in a friend's house," Cochran's lawyer, Robert M. Liechty of Greenwood Village, Colo., wrote in the lawsuit. "Therefore, Ms. Seefried wanted to terminate Ms. Ganze so that, in the event Ms. Ganze reported this cocaine use, Ms. Seefried could argue that Mr. Ganze was doing so to retaliate on her own termination."

The lawsuit also claims that Seefried has admitted to the use of cocaine to others. Liechty, also told the CU Times Tuesday that he has witnesses that will testify that Seefried uses cocaine.

Cochran and Ganze are suing Seefried, Skinner, Partner Colorado CU, Safe Harbor Services and others under two claims. The first claim is for wrongful discharge in violation of public policy and the second claim is intentional interference with contract.

Under the first claim, Colorado has a public policy that the use of cocaine is unlawful, which is more sensitive considering Seefried is a top executive who serves the marijuana industry.

Although Cochran was performing a public duty to report alleged unlawful activities of Seefried, he and his wife were fired in retaliation, according to the lawsuit. In the second claim, the lawsuit also claims Seefried's interference with the employment contracts with Cochran and Ganze was improper.

Cochran developed the business plan for Safe Harbor Services, and he also worked with Integrated Compliance Solutions, a Las Vegas-based technology company that provides solutions for financial institutions to comply with regulations. ISC's lawyer, Cynthia Smith in Denver, said the company gave Safe Harbor Services notice of termination of its license agreement with Safe Harbor on February 5 due to non-payment of support fees and other issues related to ICS' ownership interest in Safe Harbor Services.

Seefried did not respond to CU Times questions about whether the operations of Safe Harbor Services will be able to continue to operate after its technology partner has withdrawn.

The issue surrounding the claims stated in the lawsuit surfaced last November when she made a presentation during a training session in Denver about how to use the CUSO's business plan and its technology solution to serve marijuana businesses for six prospective financial institution executives.

One of those executives was Scott Everett, chief general counsel and vice president of commercial lending for the $4 billion Wright-Patt Federal Credit Union in Beavercreek, Ohio.

According to the lawsuit, Everett allegedly said that even though Seefried was very knowledgeable in cannabis banking, "her personal life may be negatively affecting her performance."

"He could not say that she was using drugs, but he said that there were suspicions that she was 'on something,' when she was giving her presentation," Cochran's lawyer wrote in the lawsuit.

Liechty said in the lawsuit that Cochran suspected Seefried was on cocaine because he knew Cochran's wife saw the Partner Colorado CEO use cocaine.

Apparently, Everett also expressed concerns about the lack of legal or business experience of Katrina Skinner, Safe Harbor Services president, chief lending officer and compliance officer.

An ICS employee, Chris Johnson, who also attended the training session, allegedly said that he met with executives from other financial institutions who allegedly shared concerns similar to those of Mr. Everett's regarding Seefried and Skinner.

According to details in the lawsuit, after the training session was completed, Everett called Cochran and raised his issues again about Seefried and Skinner. Johnson also was on the call as well. Everett allegedly said that he conveyed his concerns to his superior and that he continued to express his confidence in doing business with Safe Harbor Services as long as it addressed his issues with Seefried and Skinner.

According to the lawsuit, Cochran decided that because Seefried and Skinner were involved in the concerns brought up by Everett that it would be best for him to contact Scott Moskol, a lawyer that Cochran had retained as outside counsel for Safe Harbor Services.

In other details included in the lawsuit filing, Cochran asked Moskol for an "off-the-record" consult to determine if Cochran had a fiduciary responsibility to report Everett's concerns and to whom he should report those concerns. However, according to the lawsuit, instead of reporting back to Cochran about what he should do, Moskol reported Cochran's information to Skinner.

In mid-November, Cochran and Ganze were place on administrative leave. They were subsequently fired following an investigation conducted by a lawyer hired by Safe Harbor Services.

Cochran and Ganze argued that a summary of the investigation's findings "is in error" and that it was designed as a purported justification to terminate them.

"There are more findings than just the summary of findings that Mr. Cochran and Ms. Ganze have provided, (in the lawsuit), but I cannot comment on the detailed findings in order to protect the privacy of employees, including Mr. Cochran and Ms. Ganze," Seefried said to CU Times.

Everett of Wright-Patt did not return a CU Times call seeking comment Tuesday. A credit union spokesperson, however, said Wright-Patt was "still evaluating" whether to get involved in marijuana banking, according to a Jan. 29 newspaper report.