Two California residents are seeking answers in a two-year battle with the FBI.
In March of 2021, Linda and Reggie Martin had their $40,000 savings taken during a raid of the Beverly Hills, California branch of US Private Vaults, in which the government agency seized more than $86 million in cash, as well as jewelry and gold, from 1,400 safe-deposit boxes. According to court documents, of the hundreds of people said to be affected by the seizure, none of them were suspected of crimes.
The couple, who learned about the raid by watching the local news, have waited two years for answers. “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.”
According to The Institute for Justice, which is representing the Martins in this case, “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.”After the raid, the FBI did notify box owners 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. In her formal lawsuit, filed on March 7, she is suing the FBI for 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.”In September 2022, District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner ruled that the federal agents responsible for the raid did not violate search and seizure laws. US Private Vaults, the bank in question, shut down following the raids and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder drug money charges.