Federal Government taking people's assets from Bev Hills safe deposit box contents.
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FBI wants to keep fortune in cash, gold, jewels from Beverly Hills raid. Is it abuse of power?
By MICHAEL FINNEGAN | LOS ANGELES TIMES EXCLUSIVE
June 9, 2021 Updated 7:04 AM PT
When FBI agents asked for permission to rip hundreds of safe deposit boxes from the walls of a Beverly Hills business and haul them away, U.S. Magistrate Steve Kim set some strict limits on the raid.
The business, U.S. Private Vaults, had been charged in a sealed indictment with conspiring to sell drugs and launder money. Its customers had not.
So the FBI could seize the boxes themselves, Kim decided, but had to return what was inside to the owners.
“This warrant does not authorize a criminal search or seizure of the contents of the safety deposit boxes,” Kim’s March 17 seizure warrant declared.
Yet the FBI is now trying to confiscate $86 million in cash and millions of dollars more in jewelry and other valuables that agents found in 369 of the boxes.
Prosecutors claim the forfeiture is justified because the unnamed box holders were engaged in criminal activity. They have disclosed no evidence to support the allegation.
Box holders and their lawyers denounced the ploy as a brazen abuse of forfeiture laws, saying prosecutors and the FBI were trampling on the rights of people who thought they’d found a safe place to stash confidential documents, heirlooms, gold, rare coins and cash.
If the FBI wanted to search the boxes, the lawyers say, it first needed to meet the standard for a court-issued warrant: Probable cause that evidence of specific crimes would be found.
The government “can’t take stuff without evidence in the hopes that you’re going to get it later,” said Benjamin Gluck, an attorney who represents box holders suing the government to retrieve their property. “The 4th Amendment and the forfeiture laws require the opposite — that you have the evidence first, and then you can take property.”
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Forfeiture laws enable the government to confiscate assets tied to criminal activity. The generally low standard of proof makes it an appealing tool for prosecutors, who in criminal trials must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller referred questions to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the office, denied the government was misusing its powers by trying to confiscate box holders’ belongings.
“We have some basis to believe that the items are related to criminal activity,” he said.
In general, Mrozek said, a number of factors would lead the FBI to pursue forfeiture of the boxes’ contents — such as large stacks of cash kept by a person with a criminal record or no known source of income.
Possession of cash in any amount is legal.
Beyond the $86 million in cash, the FBI is seeking to confiscate thousands of gold and silver bars, Patek Philippe and Rolex watches, and gem-studded earrings, bracelets and necklaces, many of them in felt or velvet pouches. The FBI also wants to take a box holder’s $1.3 million in poker chips from the Aria casino in Las Vegas.
The money and goods are among the contents of about 800 safe deposit boxes the FBI seized in late March during a five-day raid of the U.S. Private Vaults store in an Olympic Boulevard strip mall known for its kosher vegan Thai restaurant.
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By MICHAEL FINNEGAN | LOS ANGELES TIMES EXCLUSIVE
June 9, 2021 Updated 7:04 AM PT
When FBI agents asked for permission to rip hundreds of safe deposit boxes from the walls of a Beverly Hills business and haul them away, U.S. Magistrate Steve Kim set some strict limits on the raid.
The business, U.S. Private Vaults, had been charged in a sealed indictment with conspiring to sell drugs and launder money. Its customers had not.
So the FBI could seize the boxes themselves, Kim decided, but had to return what was inside to the owners.
“This warrant does not authorize a criminal search or seizure of the contents of the safety deposit boxes,” Kim’s March 17 seizure warrant declared.
Yet the FBI is now trying to confiscate $86 million in cash and millions of dollars more in jewelry and other valuables that agents found in 369 of the boxes.
Prosecutors claim the forfeiture is justified because the unnamed box holders were engaged in criminal activity. They have disclosed no evidence to support the allegation.
Box holders and their lawyers denounced the ploy as a brazen abuse of forfeiture laws, saying prosecutors and the FBI were trampling on the rights of people who thought they’d found a safe place to stash confidential documents, heirlooms, gold, rare coins and cash.
If the FBI wanted to search the boxes, the lawyers say, it first needed to meet the standard for a court-issued warrant: Probable cause that evidence of specific crimes would be found.
The government “can’t take stuff without evidence in the hopes that you’re going to get it later,” said Benjamin Gluck, an attorney who represents box holders suing the government to retrieve their property. “The 4th Amendment and the forfeiture laws require the opposite — that you have the evidence first, and then you can take property.”
Subscribers get early access to this story
We’re offering L.A. Times subscribers first access to our best journalism. Thank you for your support.
Forfeiture laws enable the government to confiscate assets tied to criminal activity. The generally low standard of proof makes it an appealing tool for prosecutors, who in criminal trials must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller referred questions to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the office, denied the government was misusing its powers by trying to confiscate box holders’ belongings.
“We have some basis to believe that the items are related to criminal activity,” he said.
In general, Mrozek said, a number of factors would lead the FBI to pursue forfeiture of the boxes’ contents — such as large stacks of cash kept by a person with a criminal record or no known source of income.
Possession of cash in any amount is legal.
Beyond the $86 million in cash, the FBI is seeking to confiscate thousands of gold and silver bars, Patek Philippe and Rolex watches, and gem-studded earrings, bracelets and necklaces, many of them in felt or velvet pouches. The FBI also wants to take a box holder’s $1.3 million in poker chips from the Aria casino in Las Vegas.
The money and goods are among the contents of about 800 safe deposit boxes the FBI seized in late March during a five-day raid of the U.S. Private Vaults store in an Olympic Boulevard strip mall known for its kosher vegan Thai restaurant.
..