Two years after the FBI seized her life savings without telling her why, Linda Martin—who joined with IJ to challenge the FBI’s unconstitutional civil forfeiture practices—finally has her money back. Please consider supporting IJ to fuel more victories like this. ([link removed] )

Linda Martin has her savings back more than two years after the FBI seized it without explanation

Linda and her husband Reggie managed to save $40,200 in cash in hopes of buying a house. To keep the money safe, they stored it in a security deposit box at US Private Vaults in Southern California. But while Linda’s money may have been safe from criminals there, it wasn’t safe from the FBI. In March 2021, the FBI raided US Private Vaults and—against the terms of its warrant—seized and tried to permanently keep the contents of every box worth more than $5,000.

The FBI sent Linda a notice that they had taken her money, with no explanation of why they took it and no clear instructions for how to get it back. Hundreds of other box renters received nearly identical notices. For two years, the FBI would only tell her that the matter was pending. Then, this spring, Linda joined IJ’s class action lawsuit against the FBI’s practice of forfeiting property without saying what the owner did to justify it.

Within weeks of IJ filing suit, the FBI told Linda it would return her money—yet it still took months before she finally received what she was owed.

But the government must provide specific factual and legal reasons for forfeiting property in the first place, so Linda’s fight continues. Because we filed Linda’s case as a class action, we’re pressing forward on behalf of the whole class of other property owners who, like Linda, were never given proper notice by the FBI.

This follows an earlier IJ lawsuit, which successfully stopped the FBI from forfeiting property from several other US Private Vaults customers—and we continue to challenge the FBI’s illegal search in court. Through this multifaceted litigation, we aim to have the FBI’s actions declared unconstitutional and secure sweeping protections for all Americans.

Please consider joining IJ with the support that makes this large-scale fight possible. ([link removed] ) I look forward to keeping you up to date as these cases continue.

Scott

Scott G. Bullock

President and Chief Counsel

Institute for Justice

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