The FBI seized a
couple's savings they held in a deposit
box in a raid in March 2021.
Linda Martin
said the agency had never explained why
it's still holding her $40,200.
She and her
husband have filed a lawsuit in
conjunction with the nonprofit Institute
for Justice.
Linda and Reggie Martin had their savings seized by the
FBI from a deposit box in March 2021. Two years later, the agency still won't
explain why it's holding their money.
Agents raided the Beverly Hills, California branch
of US Private Vaults and seized more than $86 million in cash, as well as
jewelry and gold, from 1,400 safe-deposit boxes held by hundreds of people who
were not suspected of any crimes, according to court documents previously seen by Insider.
The couple were keeping $40,200 cash in their box and
only found out about the raid on local news.
"The FBI took my savings nearly two years ago but
has never told me why," Linda Martin said in a press release.
"It's been a confusing and frustrating process from the day my money was taken.
No one should have to go through this."
The Institute of Injustice, who is representing
Martin in a class-action lawsuit,
said: "They were just supposed to identify owners so they could claim their
property, but the FBI instead acted on its months-old plan to search and try to
forfeit the contents of any box worth more than $5,000."
Months after the raid, the FBI sent forfeiture notices,
telling hundreds of box holders, including Martin, that "the government wanted
to take their property forever, even though they were not named in the
indictment against the company."
Linda Martin was left "utterly bewildered," per the press release.
Her lawsuit, filed on March 7
and reviewed by Insider, accused the FBI of violating the Fifth Amendment, which
requires the government to provide specific factual and legal reasons for
forfeiture.
Bob Belden, a lawyer with the Institute for Justice,
said: "The government shouldn't get to take your property if it can't tell you
what you did wrong. Using civil forfeiture, the government decides for itself
whether to take and try to keep property, even when it doesn't suspect the
owners of any crime."
He added: "Then, the FBI sends copy-and-paste forfeiture
notices that fail to tell owners anything about why it is trying to take their
property. That's not only wrong – it's unconstitutional."
A lawsuit, filed in May last year on behalf of
several US Private Vaults customers, accused the FBI of lying about its
intentions with the raid. "Ultimately, the lure of civil forfeiture turned these
federal cops into robbers," said Robert
Frommer, another lawyer for the nonprofit.
The complaint stopped the FBI's forfeiture
proceedings against the renters named in the lawsuit. The judge declared that the
FBI's notices were "anemic" and that the agency should notify the renters of
"the factual bases for seizure and the specific statutory provision allegedly
violated."
But in September, District Court Judge
R. Gary Klausner ruled that federal agents who raided the branch
did not violate search and seizure laws.]
Galatians 2:4And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in
privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might
bring us into bondage:[Saints, who is
District Court Judge
R. Gary Klausner? From
his Wikipedia page. Klausner was born in Los Angeles, California, in
1941.[1] He graduated from Loyola High School.[2] He received a Bachelor of Arts
degree (1963) and Bachelor of Science degree (1964) from the University of Notre
Dame.[1] He received his Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School in 1967. Photo
G.W.Bush and Pope Benedict] Klausner was nominated by President George W.
Bush on July 18, 2002, to be a Judge of the United States District Court for the
Central District of California to the seat vacated by William Duffy Keller.[2]
Klausner, a Republican, was recommended for the post by a unanimous vote of a
local bipartisancommittee that screens potential judicial nominees,
and his nomination was uncontroversial.] Revelation 13:11And I beheld another beast coming up
out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12And
he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him,)
US Private Vaults shut down following the Beverly
Hills raid and pleaded guilty to
conspiracy to launder drug money.