Henry and Minh Cheng run a jewelry wholesale business based in California. They say when a client in Virgina got behind in his payments, he paid them $42,000 in cash and sent the money via Federal Express.
State police in Indiana sued to confiscate the money under a law that allows them to seize property suspected of being part of a crime.
Now Reason reports the Chengs’ have countersued, claiming police never cited the law they supposedly violated and say the state has seized $2.5 million in currency from 130 FedEx parcels in just two years.
According to the Indiana Lawyer, the Indianapolis FedEx hub is the second largest in the country. The package intended for the Chengs, like so many others, was routed through Indiana.
“The government can’t even identify a crime that would allow them to keep the money that we need to run our business,” Henry Cheng said Monday during a news conference. “We were shocked when we found out what was going on in Indianapolis and we want to put a stop to it.”
The couple has been in business for 30 years and they say they’ve never been involved in anything like this.
The Chengs are being supported by the Institute of Justice. WTHR reports a hearing is scheduled for September 16 to decide whether the Chengs’ lawsuit can proceed with class action status.
The Justice Department website describes the asset forfeiture law this way:
“Asset forfeiture is designed to deprive criminals of the proceeds of their crimes, to break the financial backbone of organized criminal syndicates and drug cartels, and to recover property that may be used to compensate victims and deter crime.”
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This kind of confiscation is far more common than almost anyone realizes, abused by the legal system over and over as a way to boost their budget, etc, and there is a youtube channel by attorney Steve Lehto that has tracked it for quite some time. https://www.youtube.com/@stevelehto
another example of weaponizing any agency to do their dirty work, steal from the middle class to pay for their toys and illegal immigrants and programs to make themselves look better in public eyes,it’s wrong to steal period…….
happened to my family. my husband had saved for months and then sold his dirt bike to buy this ATV. on his way to pick it up the driver of the truck was pulled over. they went through my husband wallet and he had $4500 dollars cash on him. they accused him of being a drug dealer and took his money. we had a to spend quite a bit on an attorney to get it back. they sited the same reason.