DEA Steals $16,000 In Cash From Young Black Man

[jberryhill]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/07/dea-asset-forfeiture-joseph-rivers_n_7231744.html

After scraping together enough money to produce a music video in Hollywood, 22-year-old Joseph Rivers set out last month on a train trip from Michigan to Los Angeles, hoping it was the start of something big.

...

Rivers changed trains at the Amtrak station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on April 15, with bags containing his clothes, other possessions and an envelope filled with the $16,000 in cash he had raised with the help of his family, the Albuquerque Journal reports. Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration got on after him and began looking for people who might be trafficking drugs.

Rivers said the agents questioned passengers at random, asking for their destination and reason for travel. When one of the agents got to Rivers, who was the only black person in his car, according to witnesses, the agent took the interrogation further, asking to search his bags. Rivers complied. The agent found the cash -- still in a bank envelope -- and decided to seize it on suspicion that it may be tied to narcotics. River pleaded with the agents, explaining his situation and even putting his mother on the phone to verify the story.

...

“We don’t have to prove that the person is guilty,” Sean Waite, the agent in charge at the DEA's Albuquerque's office, told the Journal. “It’s that the money is presumed to be guilty.”

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I believe that Sean Waite - that's [e-mail] - deserves a personal round of appreciation from anyone who feels led to congratulate him on this remarkable victory in the war on families raising money for a young man to pursue his dream.

[1939]

1. Not sure of the rules domestically

There is a finite limit to the amount of cash you can take in and out of the country. There is also a finite limit on the amount of cash you can get in one bank transaction ($10,000.00).

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. There is no internal limit.

If you wanted, you could carry around a wheelbarrow full of cash. But as can be seen, it's not a smart move, because it can be stolen from you like it was in this case.

[djean111]

3. As matter of fact, you can take out all the cash you want; the bank just reports anything over

$10,000 to the IRS, and the IRS may come around to see what you are up to.
People carry around sums bigger than that. I believe he was targeted because he is black, and I also believe that the civil forfeiture thing has gotten corrupted beyond repair. Our new Attorney General, Lynch, seems to love civil forfeiture, so it is not going away any time soon.

http://finance.zacks.com/federal-banking-rules-withdrawing-large-sums-cash-1696.html

[ret5hd]

4. And there is no limit on the amount of cash you can get in one bank transaction .

The bank may be required to report it, but there is no law/regulation preventing you from completely emptying a savings/checking account at one time and getting it in cash or any other form.

[jberryhill]

5. There is NO LIMIT to the amount of cash you can take in and out of the country

If you are carrying more than $10,000 in cash or equivalent into the country, you have to report it.

Likewise, there are bank reporting requirements for certain transactions.

In neither instance are you not allowed to travel with more than $10,000 internationally, nor are you not allowed to take more than $10,000 out of the bank.

Neither of your statements are correct.

There is no limit on the amount of cash one can take from Michigan to California. None. Furthermore, there is no reporting requirement of any kind in order to do so.

[MosheFeingold]

6. This law is disgusting.

It is just theft.