After FBI seizure of safe deposit boxes in Beverly Hills, legal challenges mount
U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner on Tuesday declined one customer’s request for an emergency order that would have blocked prosecutors from using the boxes’ contents as evidence in the investigation. It also would have stopped the FBI from requiring box holders to identify themselves as a condition of getting their valuables back.
Klausner, however, left open the possibility that the sweeping nature of the seizures violated the box renters’ rights.
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Prosecutors have argued in court filings that they are on solid legal footing, saying they can prove the company itself is a criminal enterprise and that most of the box holders were criminals hiding “ill-gotten wealth.” But they also acknowledged in court records that innocent people had been swept up in the case. No charges have been filed against any of the store’s customers.
Legal scholars say the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles is testing constitutional restraints on the government’s power to seize private property.
“This was at bottom executing a warrant at a business,” said Orin Kerr, a UC Berkeley law professor. “What makes it different is that hundreds of customers had their own 4th Amendment protected spaces in their safe deposit boxes. That’s what makes this unusual. It’s not just the business. It’s also users storing their things — some engaging in criminal activity, others not, I assume.”
A federal grand jury indicted U.S. Private Vaults last month on three counts of conspiracy — to distribute drugs, launder money and structure cash transactions to dodge currency reporting rules. The indictment lists four unnamed people affiliated with the business as co-conspirators but has not charged them. More charges could be filed later.
In a court statement defending the seizure, FBI agent Kathryn E. Bailey said agents searching the boxes found fentanyl, OxyContin, guns, gold bullion and stacks of $100 bills. Some of the largest-sized boxes each contained more than $1 million in cash, she said.
Customers who sued the government said prosecutors had no right to seize the contents of their boxes because they had no evidence that would give them reason to suspect the customers were stashing contraband or committing some other crime.
Storing Items in a Safety Deposit Box Does Not Make You A Criminal Guns, Gold Bullion and Cash are NOT Illegal
U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner on Tuesday declined one customer’s request for an emergency order that would have blocked prosecutors from using the boxes’ contents as evidence in the investigation. It also would have stopped the FBI from requiring box holders to identify themselves as a condition of getting their valuables back.
Klausner, however, left open the possibility that the sweeping nature of the seizures violated the box renters’ rights.
[clip]
Prosecutors have argued in court filings that they are on solid legal footing, saying they can prove the company itself is a criminal enterprise and that most of the box holders were criminals hiding “ill-gotten wealth.” But they also acknowledged in court records that innocent people had been swept up in the case. No charges have been filed against any of the store’s customers.
Legal scholars say the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles is testing constitutional restraints on the government’s power to seize private property.
“This was at bottom executing a warrant at a business,” said Orin Kerr, a UC Berkeley law professor. “What makes it different is that hundreds of customers had their own 4th Amendment protected spaces in their safe deposit boxes. That’s what makes this unusual. It’s not just the business. It’s also users storing their things — some engaging in criminal activity, others not, I assume.”
A federal grand jury indicted U.S. Private Vaults last month on three counts of conspiracy — to distribute drugs, launder money and structure cash transactions to dodge currency reporting rules. The indictment lists four unnamed people affiliated with the business as co-conspirators but has not charged them. More charges could be filed later.
In a court statement defending the seizure, FBI agent Kathryn E. Bailey said agents searching the boxes found fentanyl, OxyContin, guns, gold bullion and stacks of $100 bills. Some of the largest-sized boxes each contained more than $1 million in cash, she said.
Customers who sued the government said prosecutors had no right to seize the contents of their boxes because they had no evidence that would give them reason to suspect the customers were stashing contraband or committing some other crime.
Storing Items in a Safety Deposit Box Does Not Make You A Criminal Guns, Gold Bullion and Cash are NOT Illegal
..that overrides the Constitution. Got it. And the entire 100% stated purpose of the Constitution was to limit - limit severely - the present and future powers of any central government that might emerge. To keep you "gummint is all powerful and we should all submit" folks at bay.
