Civil Forfeiture in the News

Good news. A Nevada court has ruled that Nevada Law Enforcement cannot seize a person's cash/funds by declaring civil forfeiture and then give it to the DEA's civil forfeiture program, whereupon the DEA files the civil forfeiture paperwork and then shares the funds (currently 80% of the funds) by returning that amount to the Nevada law enforcement agency that performed the original seizure. The ruling is that such behavior is an improper attempt by the State Highway Patrol to bypass the Nevada state law that limits/prohibits civil forfeitures. The court further ruled that Nevada law enforcement agencies should not profit from civil forfeiture actions.

Slowly but surely courts and legislatures are coming around to civil asset forfeiture. However the decks are still stacked against the victim/suspect. Plan your large cash handling according knowing that there is still a substantial possibility of forfeiture is the opportunity arises for the authorities to do so.