Posted on 01/24/2024 6:49:34 PM PST by george76
Ninth Circuit panel unanimously orders FBI to destroy records it created during searches of US Private Vaults boxes..
PASADENA, Calif.—This morning, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously ruled against the government in a long-running class action lawsuit from the Institute for Justice (IJ) on behalf of people who rented security deposit boxes at US Private Vaults. The decision slammed the FBI for overstepping its authority when it opened up hundreds of renters’ boxes, conducted criminal searches of them all, and attempted to permanently keep everything in the boxes worth more than $5,000, all without charging any box renter with a crime.
“Today’s opinion draws a line in the sand, to ensure something like this never happens again,” said IJ Senior Attorney Rob Johnson. “If this had come out the other way, the government could have exported this raid as a model across the country. Now, the government is on notice its actions violated the Fourth Amendment.”
Judge Milan D. Smith, writing for the court, likened the FBI’s actions to the abuses that motivated the Bill of Rights: “[T]he government failed to explain why applying the inventory exception to this case would not open the door to the kinds of ‘writs of assistance’ the British authorities used prior to the Founding to conduct limitless searches of an individual’s personal belongings. It was those very abuses of power, after all, that led to adoption of the Fourth Amendment in the first place.”
“We knew that what the FBI did to us and so many others was wrong and today’s decision is a validation,” said Jennifer Snitko. “It took courage for Paul and I to be among the first people to stand up publicly and call out the government but we are proud to have fought for our rights. This is a good day for our country and the principle that the government’s power to search our property has limits.”
For years, the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) insisted that they did nothing wrong at US Private Vaults. Even though the warrant authorizing the raid only permitted the FBI to open boxes to identify their owners and safeguard the contents, agents rummaged through hundreds of boxes, ran currency they found in front of drug sniffing dogs, and made copies of people’s most personal records. The DOJ then filed a massive administrative forfeiture claim to take more than $100 million in cash and other valuables, again, without charging any individual with a crime.
“The government promised the magistrate that it would not conduct a criminal search or seizure of the boxes,” said IJ Senior Attorney Robert Frommer. “After years of litigation, today’s opinion shows that not to be true. The government lied to justify its forfeiture scheme, and in the end the lie was its undoing.”
Can a bunch of limp wristed guys in black dresses really slam anything?
Why, yes, yes they are. It's long past time for the FBI to be abolished.
They also failed to secure the Epstein pedo videos and hard drives.
As they were paid to do by the interested wealthy parties...
Civil forfeiture laws are nothing but robbery. Police (federal or state or local) that forces the owner to spend a single penny to get your own money back is theft. No crime then no forfeiture. It should be that simple. Police “holding” property after an encounter requiring legal effort to get your own stuff back is theft. I don’t care the reason. It’s one of the reason why we pushed the king out of the USA.
I am sure there are plenty here at FR that will contort themselves into pretzels in order to seize ‘drug money” without a criminal prosecution. Unfortunately there are plenty of boot lickers in this county unto its them. They will say no one needs that much freedom.
Why? If people choose to collect coins, or stamps, or anything else worth more than $5,000, what’s your objection?
The world of law enforcement and intelligence is too juicy for normal men to stay unstained.
The FBI stole money and property, they also aren’t going to destroy the records they generated OR return the property they illegally siezed.
Honestly, I don’t think they even care.
DEA at airports
The Civil War gold is another place where the FBI was crooked.
Where’s the justice? Answer; there isn’t any. And all the talking heads say the FBI field agents are hard working and honest. That’s obviously BS!
duly noted
for what its worth, the corrupt DOJ FeralBureauIntimidation/Interrogation doesn’t give a damn.
-fJRoberts-
They want the records destroyed as they were seized illigally.
My husband has one worth more then that so I will answer your question. What do you “wonder” about it?
over the years I wondered about this incident.
straight-line thinking suggests they were looking for something very very valuable and specific, and all the rest is just gravy/opportunism/obfusication.
if correct, I wonder what they were after. my best theory was a crypto memory stick with huge notional value. there are some out there, apparently.
Truth that!
The FBI committed armed robbery. They should arrest themselves.
I think the 99% of bad ones, give the 1% of good ones a bad name. I had a friend, back around 2011. He told me he had been accepted for the FBI. I told him I had little or no respect for the FBI, and promptly had one less friend in my life.
People in Hell want……oh, never mind. You know already.
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