The FBI Seized Heirlooms, Coins, and Cash From Hundreds of Safe Deposit Boxes in Beverly Hills, Despite Knowing ‘Some' Belonged to ‘Honest Citizens'

Dagny discovered that the FBI had seized the contents of her safe deposit box-about $100,000 in gold and silver coins, some family heirlooms like a diamond necklace inherited from her late grandmother, and an engagement ring she'd promised to pass down to her daughter-almost by accident.

Dagny searched Yelp to find the phone number for U.S. Private Vaults, a Beverly Hills facility where she'd rented a safe deposit box since 2017.

The federal agents were armed with a warrant allowing them to seize property belonging to the company as part of a criminal investigation-and even though the warrant explicitly exempted the safe deposit boxes in the company's vaults, they were taken too.

Whatever the original motivation for the raid, the FBI's seizure of hundreds of safe deposit boxes held by U.S. Private Vaults raises serious Fourth and Fifth Amendment issues.

The unsealed warrant authorizing the raid of U.S. Private Vaults granted the FBI permission to seize the business's computers, money counters, security cameras, and "Nests" of safe deposit boxes-the large steel frames that effectively act as bookshelves for the boxes themselves.

Now that the FBI has nearly 1,000 safe deposit boxes in its custody, anyone who comes forward to identify themselves and claim their possessions risks becoming the target of a criminal investigation.

In a lawsuit filed on April 26, Linda R.'s attorneys argue that the FBI "Failed to account for or return" 40 gold coins worth an estimated $75,000 that had been stored in a safe deposit box housed at U.S. Private Vaults.

https://reason.com/2021/05/10/the-fbi-seized-heirlooms-coins-and-cash-from-hundreds-of-safe-deposit-boxes-in-beverly-hills-despite-knowing-some-belonged-to-honest-citizens/