An FBI raid in which tens of millions in cash, jewelry, and other valuables were seized from security box lenders is being criticized as an egregious case of civil asset forfeiture after those lenders weren’t charged with a crime.
The seizure happened at a safety deposit box business called U.S. Private Vaults in March 2021. After securing a warrant from a judge, the FBI took roughly $86 million in cash as well as some Cartier bracelets and Rolex watches. The business owner ended up pleading guilty to money laundering.
However, the safe deposit box holders who were patrons of the business weren’t accused of or charged with a crime, Fox News reported.
Additionally, the warrant agents secured only authorized the seizure of business computers, money counters, and surveillance equipment. The FBI never let the judge in on their plans to take money or other belongings worth more than $5,000.
So now, several individuals are accusing the agency of putting the cart well before the horse and seizing their valuables without probable cause. They have filed a class-action lawsuit against the federal agency to retrieve their property.
Civil asset forfeiture allows law enforcement to take property or cash they believe is connected to a crime, leaving the property owners responsible for proving in court that their belongings have no criminal links.
Agents seized around 1,400 deposit boxes used by individuals that federal court documents characterize as “unsavory characters to store criminal proceeds.”
However, the warrant the judge signed off on only allowed agents to seize safety deposit boxes and keys to “inspect the contents of the boxes in an effort to identify their owners … so that they can claim their property.” That warrant did “not authorize a criminal search or seizure of the contents of the safety deposit boxes.”
Despite that, a federal judge ruled that agents didn’t exceed the warrant’s parameters even though…
Read the full article here
