Fed Carpe Diem Seizures Run Amok?

You may’ve heard FBI took a woman’s life savings for no good reason but sponsors of a new bill say it would end such “lawless seizures” of American’s property under our existing civil forfeiture law. Yet where to draw new line?

Recall that governmental bodies were long ago given the power to seize any & all property caught up in organized crime or illicit drug trafficking, as well as to keep it, whether or not criminal charges have been filed. Sounds un-American, at least, to some? “The lawless seizure & forfeiture of people’s private property by police officers is becoming standard operating procedure in many parts of the country,” Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin said in a statement reported by Fox News. “We want to restore the presumption of innocence, fair judicial process & the opportunity to be heard.” Raskin & Republican Rep. Tim Walberg want to force agencies to make a case for seizure to a judge rather than unilaterally make the call on their own; remove financial incentives around forfeiture, i.e., the “billions” in property values that have historically been seized; and raise the level of proof needed to allow for seizures.

The FAIR ACT, then, would eliminate much of today’s so-called “administrative forfeiture system” & flip the assumption of wrongdoing into one of innocence “until proven guilty.” Or, at least, prevent seizures & forfeitures without “just cause,” said Rep. Tony Cardenas, another Democrat who co-sponsored the reform bill. The issue gained national attention earlier this month when an LA resident filed a class-action against the FBI after her life savings were seized along with $86 million worth of other folks’ property in a 2021 raid of a safe deposit box company authorities believed to be an illegal money-laundering safe-haven. As Fox notes, “despite never being suspected of … a crime, the woman still has no idea whether her money will ever be returned.”

Davd Soul