DEA Asset Forfeiture Program Suspended

Orange Gerald (View Post):

In airports anyway. The program was suspended in late 2024 but I hadn’t heard anything about it until now.

The DOJ had authorized the DEA to confiscate assets of travelers who “consented” to be searched. The only criteria was suspicion of criminal activity.

The "consent" was usually under duress, as in the people weren't allowed to board their flight until they "consented."

Orange Gerald (View Post):

The agents would take cash without proof of wrongdoing, and might never charge their victims of any crime. The confiscated money would go into the DEA’s Asset Forfeiture Fund, and could then be spent by federal law enforcement.

Informants providing intelligence to the DEA would often share a portion of the “take.” The intelligence could be based on suspicious activity such as last minute bookings, or one way tickets.

I’ve been hearing about this nefarious activity for years, but the program was suspended without any headlines that I’ve seen.

Civil Asset Forfeiture has been a scandal for a long time. The airport stuff is likely to be/have been a fairly small part of the total.

YouTube does have some useful resources. Steve Lehto is one. The Civil Rights Lawyer is another.

Orange Gerald (View Post):

I’ve been hearing about this nefarious activity for years, but the program was suspended without any headlines that I’ve seen.

And it happened back in November. Credit where it is due to the Deputy AG that made the call. It surprised me that Biden officials suspended the policy. That'll learn me.

I asked an Uber driver at DFW what was the longest ride he’d had. He picked up two guys at DFW and realized that it was a four hour ride north of Oklahoma City. They haggled over a bonus and agreed on $100. One guy opened his briefcase and it was full of money. They were high stakes gamblers who’d won lots of money in Dallas. To make it impossible to trace them, they’d taken an Uber to the airport. They walked around for a while and then had him drive to a store parking lot. They weren’t going to risk TSA confiscating the cash.

Richard Easton (View Comment):

I asked an Uber driver at DFW what was the longest ride he’d had. He picked up two guys at DFW and realized that it was a four hour ride north of Oklahoma City. They haggled over a bonus and agreed on $100. One guy opened his briefcase and it was full of money. They were high stakes gamblers who’d won lots of money in Dallas. To make it impossible to trace them, they’d taken an Uber to the airport. They walked around for a while and then had him drive to a store parking lot. They weren’t going to risk TSA confiscating the cash.

There have also been reports of casinos etc "finking" on their patrons who were carrying a lot of cash. They could also get a piece of what was "forfeited."

That's in addition to cops just hanging around casinos and stopping and searching cars that leave, without any help from the casinos.

Asset forfeiture is simply theft. Taking anything without a judicial process is a theft and must be stopped everywhere.