FBI affidavit misled a magistrate judge on a search warrant in plot to seize and forfeit contents of safety deposit boxes

American Thinker ^ | 21 Aug, 2022 | Thomas Lifson

[MtnClimber]

In a case with a direct bearing on the search warrant issued on Mar A Lago, the March 22, 2021 FBI raid on a private safe deposit box operator in Beverly Hills, California just got even dodgier, according to court documents released by different federal judge than issued the warrant. You may recall that the FBI raided US Private Vaults in Beverly Hills and seized the contents of boxes of people accused of no crimes.

Eric Boehm of Reason reports on the latest revelations that show a pattern of FBI abise of magistrate judges for the purpose of obtaining search warrants that amount to fishing expeditions – a violation of the Fourth Amendment

The FBI told a federal magistrate judge that it intended to open hundreds of safe deposit boxes seized during a March 2021 raid in order to inventory the items inside—but new evidence shows that federal agents were plotting all along to use the operation as an opportunity to forfeit cash and other valuables.

Federal agents failed to disclose those plans to the federal magistrate judge who issued the warrant for the high-profile raid of U.S. Private Vaults, a private business in Beverly Hills, California, that had been the subject of an FBI investigation since at least 2019. When the raid took place, the FBI also seems to have ignored limitations imposed by the warrant, including an explicit prohibition against using the safe deposit boxes as the basis for further criminal investigations. (snip)

As Reason has extensively reported, the raid on U.S. Private Vaults resulted in federal agents seizing and attempting to forfeit more than $86 million in cash as well as gold, jewelry, and other valuables from property owners who were suspected of no crimes.

[zeugma]

Isn’t this what DEA did throughout the 1980s/1990s?

Indeed. Along with many, many of those in blue just itching to take a cut of the action. It's still happening today at every level in most states.

[mabarker1]

Not if the container is made with 10” Sch 80 PVC water line with sure seal end caps.