Federal Judge Slaps Down Government in Challenge to U.S. Private Vaults Seizures

Late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner granted a temporary restraining order that stops the government from using civil forfeiture to take the contents of safe deposit boxes seized in the FBI's raid on Beverly Hills company U.S. Private Vaults.

In May, the FBI sent a 19-page forfeiture notice to the attorneys for U.S. Private Vaults, informing the company the FBI was seeking to forfeit the contents of hundreds of safe deposit boxes-including over $85 million in cash and millions more in precious metals, jewelry and other valuables.

Civil forfeiture is a legal process that allows the government to permanently take property without charging anyone with a crime.

Here, the government has indicted U.S. Private Vaults the company, alleging it violated federal law, but it has not charged any crime by any of the individual box holders.

It prevents the government from forfeiting Jeni, Michael, Joseph and Travis' property without first sending them "Forfeiture notices that identify the specific factual and legal basis for the Government's determination to commence civil forfeiture proceedings."

"While the order formally applies just to our four clients, the reasoning of the order applies to every one of the hundreds of U.S. Private Vaults box holders in this situation," said IJ Senior Attorney Rob Johnson.

"If the government presses forward with these forfeitures now, it will be defying the court. We're calling on the FBI and the U.S. Attorney to do the right thing, to follow the judge's ruling, and to bring these sham forfeiture proceedings to a close."

https://ij.org/press-release/federal-judge-slaps-down-government-in-challenge-to-u-s-private-vaults-seizures/