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.”
The fbi stole money. and was not prosecuted.
I thought this was over. Unsettling that it continues…
The FBI took $86 million from safe deposit boxes. An appeals court will decide if that is constitutional.. December 7, 2023
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4202072/posts
I wonder about people who keep coin collections worth more than$5k
I thought they returned it all?
I’m sure it happened a lot—
It was just there. All that money. And the stupid American people pay us a pittance while the criminals make millions.
Just reach out, reach our hands out and grab some.
No ... Forfeiture generated more than $45.7 billion in revenue for the federal government alone between 2000 and 2019
Has there ever been a better time for mass civil disobedience by jury nullification when FBI and police state agencies present evidence in court?
They will not stop until they start losing cases.
We also must create a campaign to revoke qualified immunity for federal agents, judges and prosecutors.
The FBI are criminals.
Some of it was “lost” and there are separate lawsuits for that. They failed to video the opening and inventory of the boxes.
Well I’m convinced that I will not have a bank box ever again.
“ No ... Forfeiture generated more than $45.7 billion in revenue for the federal government alone between 2000 and 2019”
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Today’s FBI makes the Mafia in its glory days look like a bunch of pikers. The FBI is now, IN LARGE MEASURE, an organized criminal enterprise.
NFW. This is the FBI here.
Sounds like they struck it rich. Too bad they can’t just keep it all. Or will they.
The agents responsible should be summarily shot. Period.
Pour encouragez les qutres.
Any bets that nothing was stolen by the FBI? Any bets that the conversation behind closed doors wasn’t, No F’n Judge is gonna order us like that. And any bets that the information gathered was destroyed? Pete Strzok is the face and mind of the FBI.
Wow. I remembered hearing about this and was astonished. And here we are.
“Destroy the files you created, and don’t do it again.”
After how many years now?
Plus, who here thinks they won’t make copies to keep?
The black-robed fossils don't seem to understand that the records are NEVER going away, once they enter the system.
And the feds are going to keep watching the ones they tried to bring criminal charges against, due to the contents of their safe deposit boxes.
Mortal wound to the Fourth Amendment.
my post #19: “The black-robed fossils don’t seem to understand that the records are NEVER going away, once they enter the system.”
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