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The Water Cooler
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Holder limits seized-asset sharing process that split billions w/ local, state police
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<blockquote data-quote="Hobbes" data-source="post: 2698076" data-attributes="member: 3371"><p>mmm,hmm.... Just what I thought.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>When Long Island businessman Jeff Hirsch stepped up to the bank window to make a deposit one morning in May, 2012, the teller shot him a worried look. You know, your account has been frozen, she told Hirsch. Im not sure you want to put any money in there this morning.</p><p></p><p>In fact, the disbelieving Hirsch soon learned, the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York had, without warning, seized the entire working capital $447,000 of Bi-County Distributors in Ronkonkoma, N.Y., the business Hirsch co-owns with his two brothers.</p><p></p><p>For Hirsch, it was one of those petrifying moments that could only elicit an incredulous, This cant be true!</p><p></p><p>But it was true. Hirsch and his brothers, like thousands of other Americans in the past 10 years, had been targeted by law enforcement authorities on suspicion of a crime he had never heard of. His money had been seized as part of a federally sanctioned wave of civil asset forfeitures, with citizens losing homes and automobiles and life savings merely because they were suspected of some crime.</p><p></p><p>The subject is likely to come up at U.S. Senate hearings this week to review President Obamas nomination of Loretta Lynch to replace Eric Holder as U.S. Attorney General, staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee say. It was Lynchs office that inflicted the nightmare of disappearing funds on the Hirsches and refused to release the money even after overwhelming evidence that the brothers were innocent of wrongdoing.</p><p></p><p>Since 2008, police agencies have seized cash and property worth $3 billion, making more than 55,000 seizures, according to the Washington Post. Lynchs office hauled in $113 million in civil forfeiture actions from 123 cases between 2011 and 2013, and a Wall Street Journal editorial described her office as a major forfeiture operation.</p><p></p><p>Last week, Lynchs office finally gave the brothers their money back, two years and nine months after it had been seized and exactly a week before Lynch was scheduled to be grilled by members of the Judiciary Committee.</p><p></p><p>By now, the asset-forfeiture horror stories have begun to alarm not only ordinary citizens but members of Congress and high-ranking federal officials. Holder himself stepped into the controversy last week, issuing a sweeping order to stop local and state police from seizing private property without warrant or criminal charges.</p><p></p><p>Holders announcement was a significant move away from the predatory property seizures that have been the subject numerous recent investigative stories. But Holder is on his way out, leaving administration of the new policy in the hands of his successor, likely to be one of the enforcers of the tainted grab-and-keep system, Loretta Lynch.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/loretta-lynch-civil-forfeiture-hirsch/" target="_blank">http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/loretta-lynch-civil-forfeiture-hirsch/</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hobbes, post: 2698076, member: 3371"] mmm,hmm.... Just what I thought. When Long Island businessman Jeff Hirsch stepped up to the bank window to make a deposit one morning in May, 2012, the teller shot him a worried look. You know, your account has been frozen, she told Hirsch. Im not sure you want to put any money in there this morning. In fact, the disbelieving Hirsch soon learned, the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York had, without warning, seized the entire working capital $447,000 of Bi-County Distributors in Ronkonkoma, N.Y., the business Hirsch co-owns with his two brothers. For Hirsch, it was one of those petrifying moments that could only elicit an incredulous, This cant be true! But it was true. Hirsch and his brothers, like thousands of other Americans in the past 10 years, had been targeted by law enforcement authorities on suspicion of a crime he had never heard of. His money had been seized as part of a federally sanctioned wave of civil asset forfeitures, with citizens losing homes and automobiles and life savings merely because they were suspected of some crime. The subject is likely to come up at U.S. Senate hearings this week to review President Obamas nomination of Loretta Lynch to replace Eric Holder as U.S. Attorney General, staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee say. It was Lynchs office that inflicted the nightmare of disappearing funds on the Hirsches and refused to release the money even after overwhelming evidence that the brothers were innocent of wrongdoing. Since 2008, police agencies have seized cash and property worth $3 billion, making more than 55,000 seizures, according to the Washington Post. Lynchs office hauled in $113 million in civil forfeiture actions from 123 cases between 2011 and 2013, and a Wall Street Journal editorial described her office as a major forfeiture operation. Last week, Lynchs office finally gave the brothers their money back, two years and nine months after it had been seized and exactly a week before Lynch was scheduled to be grilled by members of the Judiciary Committee. By now, the asset-forfeiture horror stories have begun to alarm not only ordinary citizens but members of Congress and high-ranking federal officials. Holder himself stepped into the controversy last week, issuing a sweeping order to stop local and state police from seizing private property without warrant or criminal charges. Holders announcement was a significant move away from the predatory property seizures that have been the subject numerous recent investigative stories. But Holder is on his way out, leaving administration of the new policy in the hands of his successor, likely to be one of the enforcers of the tainted grab-and-keep system, Loretta Lynch. [url]http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/loretta-lynch-civil-forfeiture-hirsch/[/url] [/QUOTE]
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