U. S. Private Vaults seizure in Beverly Hills: follow up.

[JackStraw77]

Most people remember the 24/7 Private Vaults case in Las Vegas several years where a robbery was committed and many vaults were emptied. Sports bettors, poker players and drug dealers kept their cash and valuables there because you could open a box with no ID required. You used an Iris Scan to enter the vault. There was a Private Vault in Beverly Hills that wasn't robbed. The government emptied the vaults of $86 million in cash and valuables claiming most of the money came from illegal sources. Since the seizure many of the vault's owners have been trying to get their money back. Some of been successful.

[FONT=&quot]After the FBI seized Joseph Ruiz's life savings during a raid on a safe deposit box business in Beverly Hills, the unemployed chef went to court to retrieve his $57,000. A judge ordered the government to tell Ruiz why it was trying to confiscate the money.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]It came from drug trafficking, an FBI agent responded in court papers.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Ruiz’s income was too low for him to have that much money, and his side business selling bongs made from liquor bottles suggested he was an unlicensed pot dealer, the agent wrote. The FBI also said a dog had smelled unspecified drugs on Ruiz’s cash.[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]The FBI was wrong. When Ruiz produced records showing the source of his money was legitimate, the government dropped its false accusation and returned his money.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Ruiz is one of roughly 800 people whose money and valuables the FBI seized from safe deposit boxes they rented at the U.S. Private Vaults store in a strip mall on Olympic Boulevard.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Federal agents had suspected for years that criminals were stashing loot there, and they assert that’s exactly what they found. The government is trying to confiscate $86 million in cash and a stockpile of jewelry, rare coins and precious metals taken from about half of the boxes.
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[FONT=&quot]But six months after the raid, the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles have produced no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by the vast majority of box holders whose belongings the government is trying to keep.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]About 300 of the box holders are contesting the attempted confiscation. Ruiz and 65 others have filed court claims saying the dragnet forfeiture operation is unconstitutional.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“It was a complete violation of my privacy,” Ruiz said. “They tried to discredit my character.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Prosecutors, so far, have outlined past criminal convictions or pending charges against 11 box holders to justify the forfeitures. But in several other cases, court records show, the government’s rationale for claiming that the money and property it seized was tied to crime is no stronger than it was against Ruiz.

https://news.yahoo.com/fbi-says-fortune-seized-beverly-140035114.html

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[Willie99]

Hope the government loses a lot of lawsuits

I'm not sure why they should keep a dime without proving a crime. Who gave them a warrant?

Wouldn't be surprised some crooked people pocketed some of the heist for themselves

 

[JackStraw77]

The late "Mr Elliot" owner of Private Vaults in Las Vegas. I think the security guard was older than he was. Customers are so stupid. Did anybody bother to ask how secure the building was. Once you take out the security guard you can drill the boxes all the night to your heart's content and that's what happened. I'm sure the one in Beverly Hills had better security. Except from the Feds who can walk in and seize the contents of every box. Nothing is safe. Not the Swiss Bank, Not the Caymans. Even Bitcoin. It's anonymous until you convert into hard currency and try to move it somewhere. If you sell Bitcoin privately for cash you will have to store your cash in a safe, a mattress or a hole in the ground. What the governments are fearful around the world is Bitcoin becoming popular enough to buy anything with it. Now they have to find out where your luxury car came from. If you bought it with Bitcoin there is no record they can access. It's a lot harder to trace the acquisition. Crypto eliminates people having to put their unreported cash, gold, diamonds in a Private Vault. It becomes an untraceable storer of value if it becomes a stable currency.