Posted on 01/31/2024 6:28:29 AM PST by lowbridge
The FBI violated private citizens’ constitutional rights when it seized contents from hundreds of safe deposit boxes during a 2021 raid on a Beverly Hills business suspected of money laundering, a federal appeals court ruled last week.
"This was a resounding victory, not just for our clients, but for the hundreds of people who've been stuck in a nightmare for years because of what the FBI did," Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Rob Frommer, who represented several plaintiffs in the case, told Fox News.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found the bureau violated U.S. Private Vaults box holders’ Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures by opening and cataloging the contents of 1,400 safe deposit boxes without individual criminal warrants for each.
The Jan. 23 ruling reversed a 2022 lower court decision siding with the FBI and requires federal officials to destroy any inventory records of the hundreds of box holders not charged with a crime.
Agents took about $86 million in cash from the boxes in the March 2021 raid, as well as a trove of jewelry, gold bars and coins, silver and other valuables. In May of that year, the FBI "commenced administrative forfeiture proceedings" against an unspecified number of the boxes, according to court documents filed by the government.
-snip
The FBI's raid on U.S. Private Vaults was part of its investigation on the company, which ultimately shut down and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder drug money. The government argued before the 9th Circuit that its warrant authorized the FBI to seize the deposit boxes and inventory their contents in accordance with standardized policy.
But unsealed court documents showed neither the FBI nor the U.S. Attorney's Office told the judge in their warrant request that agents planned to confiscate the contents of
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Thats ok. How about taking it out of the FBI budget?
Just another day at the FBI.
{shrug}
I have never trusted “safe” deposit boxes, because you often won’t detail what’s in it, and if stuff is stolen it is hard to pove what was there.
Notice how the only penalty is that the FBI has to destroy inventory records and return property. There are no criminal penalties.
I wonder if that works for scams run by private citizens.
FIB officials should have been indicted, tried, convicted, and gone to prison for this corruption. That won’t happen because the Justice Department is just as corrupt as the FIB.
I have zero sympathy for drug cartels and dealers. The FBI as law enforcement if fine - if it's done across the board and equally. My problem? The FBI needs to look at 'money laundering' done by Biden and Hunter and 'friends'... democrat politicians in general.
FINALLY - some justice but I’m not going to take back my words about judges in a post of a couple of days ago. I remember this story - not easy to do in the jumble of weird stories every day. I’m thrilled at the decision. What they did was so wrong...Thanks for posting...
I once respected the fbi. Must’ve been those TV shows. It’s no longer worthy of any respect.
I read at the link but didn’t see anything about monetary penalties to be paid to the box holders...
The problem is not who the FBI targeted. ‘U.S. Private Vaults’ was evidently a criminal organization. The problem is that the FBI lied on the warrant application. Or they went beyond the scope of the warrant (take your pick).
Either way, it sure looks deliberate. Someone in the FBI needs to be criminally charged over this. But cows will jump over the Moon first.
Oh, and you’re right about selective enforcement. And that’s where the media has let the country down. They don’t report Democrat corruption. So there is no pressure for the FBI to do anything about it.
Well dang! The fbi doing unlawful stuff. Who would have thought? Who has the bank roll to sue them?
“This was a resounding victory, not just for our clients, but for the hundreds of people who’ve been stuck in a nightmare for years because of what the FBI did,” Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Rob Frommer, who represented several plaintiffs in the case.
__________________________________________
Hardly. A victory for crimes committed is prison for the criminals.
Leftists are probably tipping FBI agents for destroying their opponents.
The fibs could have solved this one with ease. The missing items were stolen by its own agents. With license, apparently.
The FBI needs to be swept into the dustbin of history with Stasi and the SS.
this case was so odd.
they were looking for something very specific, I think. the only thing that I can think of that might justify it would be a huge crypto stash/memstick.
but then they stole everything else. maybe that is just normal?
Oh yeah. The FBI is “fine.”
“seize the deposit boxes and inventory their contents in accordance with standardized policy.”
Not law just ‘policy’.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.