<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by coplatsat:
Be very careful. I had a client who was flying out of cincinati to san antonio. He showed up about one hour before the flight, bought a one way ticket in cash, and got mad at the ticket agent since it took him a long time to issue the ticket which caused him to miss the flight. He had to wait until the next day. He arrived, went through security, and while waiting to board the plane, two plain clothes DEA agents approach him. They ask him how much money he has on him, he refuse to answer. They end up searching his carryon without his consent (remember now he has to let them since he is in the secure area) and they find about $13k cash, confiscate all of the money, and let him go with a receipt. While he was in the air, there were more cops waiting for him. He gets of the plane, and is arrested for an unpaid parking ticket (ironically at the airport). I can just imagine that they had so many hours to try to make a case againts him so they would not have to return the money. Once he is arrested upon arriving in SAT, they completely search him, book him and let him go after he pays the parking ticket. Upon searching him, they went through his wallet and traced all of the phone numbers on the back of business cards he had in his wallet. One number was NADIS positive (ie the number belonged to someone who may have been arrested or is under surviliance by a US agency) and filed a civil forfeiture against him in Lexington, KY for the $13k based solely on him having a phone number of an alleged bad guy, being young, paying in cash, etc. To make a long story short, we settled for about half, since it was going to cost more to defend the lawsuit in Lexington federal court then what the amount of the forfeiture was. HE was young, about 21 and he told me that he had that much money on him because he had just driven up to ohio from Texas to sell a used sports car. His brother had a small used car lot, and we provided all of the evidence to the US attorney's office (cash receipt for the sale, car title, etc... Even when faced with evidence that the money was legal, the US attorney's still pursued. They knew that it would cost more to fight and even told me during settlement negotiations. That was their leverage.
One time I joked with the US attorney handling the case that they should just set up a sting in Vegas, and they could seize a lot of money. He did not think my comment was funny. Most people do not even fight for the money, helater told me. The forfeited money goes to the departments involved in the seizure.
Apparently what tipped the DEA off was the altercation he had the day before with the ticket agent (ticket agent tipped off the DEA) and he was young, paying in cash, on a one way fare. When the big wheels of government spin against you it is scary and you are helpless! Remember Due process says you get a day in court. This was civil so he had to pay the attorney's fees and the fees would have exceeded (tripled) $13k to go to trial in Kentucky.</font>
This BS. I can't express how much this annoys me. This country is going to hell in a handbasket all in the name of security. Enough of this rant.