United States v. $68,350 in U.S. Currency (District of Minnesota 2019)

The client was traveling through MSP Airport with a large amount of cash. Federal agents found the cash and confiscated all of it. Under forfeiture laws, government agents are permitted to take any assets they believe comes from criminal activity, without any requirement that they justify their actions before taking the money. Victims then have to follow a very specific set of procedures in order to even attempt to get their money back. In this case, I immediately filed a claim challenging the seizure, pointing out that my client had legitimate reasons to be traveling with the money and that there was no reason to think it came from an illegal source. Without any court proceedings, the DEA ultimately agreed to return every penny to my client.