{"id":8171,"date":"2021-06-12T17:54:30","date_gmt":"2021-06-12T17:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/fbi-seizes-800-beverly-hills-safety-deposit-boxes-with-86m-attorneys-claim-feds-raid-unconstitutional\/"},"modified":"2021-06-12T17:54:30","modified_gmt":"2021-06-12T17:54:30","slug":"fbi-seizes-800-beverly-hills-safety-deposit-boxes-with-86m-attorneys-claim-feds-raid-unconstitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/fbi-seizes-800-beverly-hills-safety-deposit-boxes-with-86m-attorneys-claim-feds-raid-unconstitutional\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI Seizes 800 Beverly Hills Safety Deposit Boxes With $86M, Attorneys Claim Fed\u2019s Raid \u2018Unconstitutional\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) is under fire for an alleged unconstitutional seizure of 800 safety deposit boxes in Beverly Hills. According to reports, the FBI confiscated $86 million in cash, jewelry, and thousands of gold and silver bars. Box holders and their lawyers are calling out the federal law enforcement agency for lacking sufficient proof that the boxes held evidence of being tied to specific crimes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Abuse of Power? Lawyers Believe the FBI Seized People\u2019s Life Savings in an Unconstitutional Manner<\/h2>\n

The FBI has seized over 800 safety deposit boxes that were located in Beverly Hills and held at the U.S. Private Vaults store. Reports note that the FBI got an order from a California magistrate to seize the store\u2019s \u201cbusiness equipment\u201d that ostensibly was tied to a money laundering case. The order barred the searches of the safety deposit box contents, explains<\/a> the LA Times reporter Michael Finnegan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis warrant does not authorize a criminal search or seizure of the contents of the safety deposit boxes,\u201d the order signed by U.S. Magistrate Steve Kim clearly says.<\/p>\n

Video image obtained from the U.S. court in California shows federal agents confiscating items held in the U.S. Private Vaults store in Beverly Hills. Lawyers say the FBI has abused its power and the forfeitures are unconstitutional. 369 of the boxes contained $86 million in valuables and the raid took five days to complete. Federal agent Thom Mrozek denies any wrongdoing and said 75 boxes have been returned and another 175 will be returned to owners.<\/p>\n

The owners of the safety deposit boxes and their attorneys believe the FBI has done them wrong. To date, 11 lawsuits have been filed by safety deposit box holders against the federal agency. Lawyers representing a large number of box holders said the federal law enforcement agency did not obtain a standard issued warrant that notes probable cause. Benjamin Gluck, a lawyer who represents U.S. Private Vaults store box holders believes the FBI broke standard protocol.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The government] can\u2019t take stuff without evidence in the hopes that you\u2019re going to get it later,\u201d Gluck told the LA Times. \u201cThe 4th Amendment and the forfeiture laws require the opposite \u2014 that you have the evidence first, and then you can take property.\u201d Speaking<\/a> with the publication Reason, Gluck noted that the federal agents are holding people\u2019s money hostage. Gluck said:<\/p>\n

It was improper that the government seized these possessions in the first place, unconscionable that they are using them as hostages to pressure owners to divulge private information, and outrageous that they apparently treated the possessions so carelessly that they seem to have lost at least some of them.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A Lawyer for a Safety Deposit Box Owner Says: \u2018The Constitution Does Not Abide Guilt by Association\u2019<\/h2>\n

Joseph Ruiz lost his life savings in the FBI raid and said federal agents took $57K in cash. Ruiz obtained the funds in documented legal settlements and the FBI has given him no explanation. \u201cThey just kind of stole my money,\u201d Ruiz said. \u201cI\u2019m made out to be a criminal, and I didn\u2019t do anything. I\u2019m a law-abiding citizen,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey throw people like Joseph into this upside-down world where they did nothing wrong, but they\u2019re forced to come forward to litigate against the government just to get their property back and prove their own innocence,\u201d Robert Frommer, an attorney for Joseph Ruiz explained in an interview.<\/p>\n

Frommer works for the libertarian law firm Institute for Justice and wrote an editorial about the FBI in the Orange County Register. \u201cThe constitution does not abide guilt by association,\u201d Frommer argues. \u201cWhat the government has done here is completely backward. The government cannot search every apartment in a building because the landlord is involved in a crime. After all, when somebody rents an apartment, that apartment is theirs,\u201d the attorney added.<\/p>\n

Despite the accusations, the FBI denies that the federal agency did anything wrong. A spokesperson for the FBI, Thom Mrozek, denies the federal agency misused its authority and noted that funds were allegedly tethered to misdeeds. Mrozek said that large stacks of cash kept by a person with no source of income can lead to forfeiture. \u201cWe have some basis to believe that the items are related to criminal activity,\u201d Mrozek insisted during his interview.<\/p>\n

Federal seizures like this highlight the benefits of crypto assets<\/a> like bitcoin (BTC)<\/a>, ethereum (ETH)<\/a>, and bitcoin cash (BCH)<\/a>, which are much harder to confiscate than boxes filled with cash and jewels. Countless reports over the last decade show law enforcement agents illegally taking people\u2019s life savings for traveling with large bundles of cash or precious metals. These legalized pirates have taken $46 billion from forfeiture cases<\/a> (data from 2000 to 2019) and the U.S. federal government has kept the lion\u2019s share of the funds.<\/p>\n

In fact, U.S. law enforcement rakes in billions a year in forfeiture cases<\/a>, and many never get investigated. The abuse has led to unprecedented levels<\/a> of abuse to the point where human rights groups have dubbed the action \u2018policing for profit.\u2019 The massive stash of cash and jewels taken yearly by the feds doesn\u2019t even account for the colossal quantity of land seizures<\/a> federal agencies take in forfeiture cases.<\/p>\n

An attorney for an anonymous box holder, Jeffrey B. Isaacs, says his unidentified client \u201cJames Poe\u201d believes he did nothing wrong. Isaacs insisted that the FBI\u2019s recent Private Vaults store raid is one of the most profound \u201cillegal search and seizure as I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d Prosecutors are attempting to \u201cextort people into exposing their identities in order to investigate them. It\u2019s unprecedented, and I think it\u2019s very dangerous,\u201d Isaacs concluded.<\/p>\n

What do you think about the FBI confiscating 800 safety deposit boxes in Beverly Hills and claiming the funds were \u201crelated to criminal activity?\u201d Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Bitcoin News
\nNews, attorneys, Benjamin Gluck, Beverly Hills, Bitcoin, Civil Asset Forfeiture, Cryptocurrencies, deposit boxes, FBI, Federal Bureau Investigation, illegal, illegal search and seizure, Institute for Justice, Joseph Ruiz, Law Enforcement, Robert Frommer, safety deposit boxes, seizures, Steve Kim, U.S. Private Vaults store, US Law Enforcement, warrantless<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) is under fire for an alleged unconstitutional seizure of 800 safety deposit boxes in Beverly Hills. According to reports, the FBI confiscated $86 million in cash, jewelry, and thousands of gold and silver bars. Box holders and their lawyers are calling out the federal law enforcement agency for lacking sufficient…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blockchain-news","category-coin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8171"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}