Posts Tagged ‘Civil forfeiture’
Judge Overturns Civil Forfeiture by DHS Goons
I recently had an unpleasant encounter with an employee of the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration when I passed through an airport security checkpoint. The young man became belligerent when I refused to proceed through a body scanner on my way to board my flight. Raising his voice, he told me that I [...]
Civil Forfeiture: A Tool to Balance State and Local Budgets
While the talking heads on television declare the recession over, in the meantime, state and local governments face record deficits. Here in Arizona, our state budget deficit represents more than 50% of anticipated 2010 revenues. And while Arizona faces the largest per-capita budget shortfall in the United States, many other states have a similar funding [...]
Airport Security Personnel no Longer to Act as “Cash Police”
It’s not often that I can report news that’s actually favorable to financial privacy. Today is a happy exception. I’m pleased to report that the Transportation Security Administration has modified its rules regarding detaining and questioning airline passengers carrying large quantities of cash. In March 2009, TSA officials in St. Louis detained Steven Bierfeldt after [...]
U.S. Uses Roving Checkpoints to Escalate the War on Cash
I just returned to Phoenix from a week’s vacation on the beach in San Diego. My all-too-brief holiday was very pleasant, with the exception of the time spent waiting in line at checkpoints manned by agents of the U.S. Border Patrol—five in all on Interstate 8 between Gila Bend, Arizona and San Diego. I’m white [...]
Supremes to Decide whether States Can Indefinitely Delay Forfeiture Hearing
The U.S. Supreme Court has no credibility whatsoever in defending the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Among other decisions “protecting” our freedoms, the Supreme Court has: Upheld the power of state and local governments to seize private property from one group of people for the benefit of a more powerful private interest Upheld the power [...]
The Justice Department Plan to Maximize Asset Forfeiture
The abominable practice of “civil forfeiture” is a legal procedure in which prosecutors can seize your property without accusing you—much less convicting you—of any crime. The civil forfeiture racket raises billions of dollars for federal, state, and local governments. Most of the time, the seizing agency gets to keep the money it confiscates, creating a [...]
Now the Military Receives Forfeiture Kickbacks
Asset forfeiture is a hugely profitable enterprise for city, county, and state governments, and the federal government as well. In the most-abused type of forfeiture—civil forfeiture—you need not be accused of any crime to lose your property. Instead, police allege that your property was used illegally, and then seize it. Unless you jump through a [...]
Why Wasn’t Elliot Spitzer Prosecuted for Money Laundering?
About a year ago, former New York governor Elliot Spitzer made a series of cash withdrawals from his own bank account. The total amount he withdrew came to more than $15,000. Spitzer used the cash to pay a company called Emperors Club VIP to procure high-priced prostitutes. After Spitzer’s bank identified the withdrawals as “suspicious [...]