More civil asset forfeiture outrage
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Linda Martin thought she was being responsible by putting her nest egg in a safe deposit box where she wouldn’t be tempted to touch it.
She never imagined the FBI would seize her life savings.
“They didn’t tell us why they took our money. They haven’t told us anything as far as what we did wrong,” Martin, 58, told Fox News. “We haven’t done anything wrong. We work and we saved our money because we were trying to save and buy a house.”
Two years later, Martin still doesn’t know why her money was taken or if she’ll ever get it back.
“The FBI, they feel like they can get away with anything,” she said. “I just feel like it’s unfair.”
On March 22, 2021, the FBI seized Martin’s and 1,400 other customers’ safe deposit boxes from U.S. Private Vaults, a Beverly Hills–based company. The FBI took the $40,200 Linda was saving for a down payment on a home in addition to another $86 million in cash and tens of millions more in gold, silver, jewelry and other valuables from other safe deposit box renters.
The problem is that Martin isn’t accused of committing any crime. She doesn’t even appear to be suspected of a crime. She merely used a safe deposit box company that was also being used criminally. As such, her $40,000 is now in police hands.
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That's outrageous.
But hey, it's the FBI.
Faceless bureaucrats, unaccountable to anyone, who make the wheels of Washington roll better for all of us. The woman should be grateful that top-notch law enforcement is guarding the country from ill-gotten money...No matter who they have to step on to do it.
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That's outrageous.
But hey, it's the FBI.
Faceless bureaucrats, unaccountable to anyone, who make the wheels of Washington roll better for all of us. The woman should be grateful that top-notch law enforcement is guarding the country from ill-gotten money...No matter who they have to step on to do it.
@Jolly said in More civil asset forfeiture outrage:
That's outrageous.
But hey, it's the FBI.
Faceless bureaucrats, unaccountable to anyone, who make the wheels of Washington roll better for all of us. The woman should be grateful that top-notch law enforcement is guarding the country from ill-gotten money...No matter who they have to step on to do it.
It seems like if politicians really wanted to get rid of this hideous practice, it would have happened by now.
Presumably, this is part of 'The war on drugs' which is going so well.
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@Jolly said in More civil asset forfeiture outrage:
That's outrageous.
But hey, it's the FBI.
Faceless bureaucrats, unaccountable to anyone, who make the wheels of Washington roll better for all of us. The woman should be grateful that top-notch law enforcement is guarding the country from ill-gotten money...No matter who they have to step on to do it.
It seems like if politicians really wanted to get rid of this hideous practice, it would have happened by now.
Presumably, this is part of 'The war on drugs' which is going so well.
@Doctor-Phibes said in More civil asset forfeiture outrage:
@Jolly said in More civil asset forfeiture outrage:
That's outrageous.
But hey, it's the FBI.
Faceless bureaucrats, unaccountable to anyone, who make the wheels of Washington roll better for all of us. The woman should be grateful that top-notch law enforcement is guarding the country from ill-gotten money...No matter who they have to step on to do it.
It seems like if politicians really wanted to get rid of this hideous practice, it would have happened by now.
Presumably, this is part of 'The war on drugs' which is going so well.
Hey, they know better.
Shaddup.
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FBI sued after allegedly losing hundreds of thousands in rare coins during raid
Two Americans are alleging the FBI lost or stole their property after seizing it through a “shady” process.
“All we know is that their property was in a box and safe before the FBI broke into the box,” Joe Gay, an attorney with the nonprofit law firm Institute for Justice, told Fox News. “Once the FBI broke into the box, we honestly don’t know exactly what happened.”
“We don’t know if they lost it. We don’t know if somebody pocketed it and walked away,” he continued. “We have no way to know.”
The Institute for Justice filed two lawsuits Friday on behalf of clients who had property seized from their safety deposit boxes in a March 2021 FBI raid on U.S. Private Vaults, a Beverly Hills–based company.
After prevailing in court, and the FBI agreeing to return their property, both Don Mellein and Jeni Pearsons discovered some of their property was missing and suspect the FBI’s haphazard raid or sticky fingers are to blame.
“There’s literally been no explanation,” Pearsons said. “I think you have to assume that it’s the simplest explanation, and I think, unfortunately, the simplest explanation is they took it or lost it.”
Pearsons and her husband Michael Storc similarly rented a security deposit box in 2017 as a financial safeguard, storing around $20,000 in silver and $2,000 in cash.
Neither Mellein nor Pearson were charged with a crime.
The FBI had been investigating U.S. Private Vaults, which shut down following the raid and ultimately pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder drug money.
After the FBI seized their property along with 1,400 other customers, Mellein and Pearsons received a notice stating the FBI wanted to keep their property through a process known as civil forfeiture.
Jeni Pearsons said the FBI had "no explanation" for where the $2,000 it seized from her safe deposit box went. (Institute for Justice)
Jeni Pearsons said the FBI had “no explanation” for where the $2,000 it seized from her safe deposit box went.
Pearsons said she’d never heard of civil forfeiture before.
But after doing research, she discovered that one of the options to reclaim items presented on the notice essentially gave the FBI all rights to decide what’s done with the property.
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We have got to end this. SCOTUS has another chance in the coming term with Culley vs Marshall.
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I'm not trying to defend the FBI's behaviour here at all, it's terrible.
But isn't it a bit weird to keep your life-savings in a safe-deposit box? I know, people worry about banks and what-have-you, but in this case the paranoia seems to be almost a self-fulfilling prophecy
I was only joking
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I'm not trying to defend the FBI's behaviour here at all, it's terrible.
But isn't it a bit weird to keep your life-savings in a safe-deposit box? I know, people worry about banks and what-have-you, but in this case the paranoia seems to be almost a self-fulfilling prophecy
@Doctor-Phibes said in More civil asset forfeiture outrage:
I'm not trying to defend the FBI's behaviour here at all, it's terrible.
But isn't it a bit weird to keep your life-savings in a safe-deposit box? I know, people worry about banks and what-have-you, but in this case the paranoia seems to be almost a self-fulfilling prophecy
I wouldn't, but don't underestimate people's goofy behavior...
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@Horace said in More civil asset forfeiture outrage:
At a bank, cash is against the rules in a deposit box. Though it’s not enforceable.
Thats weird. I wonder why that is.
