IRS Shuts Down Another High-Profile Asset Forfeiture Case, Gives $447,000 Back To Its Rightful Owners
from the sadly,-no-interest-will-be-collected-on-this-two-year-'loan' dept
Thanks to our nation's tax laws and liberal asset forfeiture programs, the IRS can seize funds from a bank account if it believes the account holder is attempting to bypass income reporting requirements by making deposits under the arbitrary $10,000 cutoff. The IRS doesn't need to obtain evidence of wrongdoing or even ever press charges against the account holders. It just takes the money, and it's up to those whose accounts have been emptied to prove that they weren't "structuring" their deposits.Recently, it dismissed a structuring case against Carole Hinder, who had run her small, cash-only restaurant for nearly 40 years without incident before the IRS decided she was hiding money from it. It seized nearly $33,000, but seemed to reconsider its position after her case was covered by national press outlets like the New York Times.
The same seems to have happened here. Many of the reports on asset forfeiture also detailed the plight of the Hirsch family, whose convenience store distribution company's account attracted IRS attention for the same reason. Asset forfeiture went into play and the IRS walked off with nearly a half-million of Bi-County Distribution's money. Over two years later, the case is suddenly being dropped and the money returned to its rightful owners.
The government acknowledged in its agreement to return the money that the Hirsch brothers, who operate Bi-County, were never charged with any crime. In fact, all of the money deposited by the Hirsches was lawfully earned from their small business, according to the Institute for Justice, a libertarian law firm in Arlington, Va., that represented the Hirsches.The Hirsch case was helped by the family's retention of a forensic accountant, who prepared a report analyzing the company's deposits and financial transactions and handed it over to federal prosecutors. However, it was not helped by the IRS' refusal to make the next move after it seized the family's money back in 2012.
During the two-and-a-half years that the government held the money, federal prosecutors filed no formal action in court to complete the forfeiture, which deprived the Hirsch brothers of an opportunity to contest the seizure in court.So, media heat or not, it took a lawsuit filed by the Hirsch family to finally regain the $447,000 from the IRS. The settlement doesn't do much for the family who spent more than two years fighting this, as the agreement stipulates each party is responsible for its own legal fees. This will hit the Hirsches harder than it hits the US government since only the former party will be paying out of its own pocket.
In the settlement agreement [pdf link], the government disingenuously dodges admitting wrongdoing and even adds in wording stating that the return of the funds does not release the family or its company from "any potential criminal liability." This leaves room for the IRS to make another run at the Bi-County Distribution if it wishes, although I would imagine the harsh light of unwanted publicity means this will be the last we hear of this particular asset forfeiture case.
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Filed Under: asset forfeiture, asset seizure, carole hinder, cash, forfeiture, irs, stealing money
Companies: bi-county distribution
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What I want to see
But I guess that would be more like civic forfeiture than civil forfeiture.
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Re: What I want to see
Holder has done a lot that he deserves blame for, but Fast and Furious isn't one of them.
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Re: Re: What I want to see
Happened on his watch - it's his responsibility. After all, if it's a good enough way to place blame for Presidents (shifting the blame from the actual person to the successor just because it came to light later) then it's good enough for that criminal.
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Re: Re: Re: What I want to see
The Great Recession happened on Bush's watch, but Republicans act like everything was great until the day Obama took office.
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Re: What I want to see
Facts are not your friends, boy.
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Re: Re: What I want to see
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Your Country Is Broken
There are so many end runs around any sort of reasonable due process, that it is a complete delusion to believe Americans are not living in a totalitarian regime. (unless you are wealthy, then you can just buy your own version of "law")
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Re: Your Country Is Broken
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The U.S. is "exceptional"
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Struggling a bit...
In other words, this maybe isn't about deposits, but about the conversion of >=$10K cash into other assets or the conversion of assets into cash.
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Long Island Family
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The same applies to those jurisdictions who have a 'warn range' for blood alcohol levels. 0.08 is the legal standard in most jurisdictions that results in a criminal offence.
Well, people started to drink less, which meant less people being charged with drunk driving. So governments came up with the 0.05 to 0.08 warn range and can suspend your licence (in the Province of Ontario, the first warn range offence is a three-day suspension and a $150 penalty) if you blow in that range. No blood test has been taken and you haven't done anything criminally wrong, but you are doing something 'illegal' in the eye of the government, so pay up.
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They got their money back...
If you underpay - or fail to pay for any reason - you will owe a penalty to the IRS. Since the IRS was at fault (whether they admit it or not) why don't they get to pay a penalty to the rightful owner of the money?
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Re: They got their money back...
Bullshit. Fill out the form explaining WHY you have made the decision you made - no penalty.
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Easy CHEAT!
Most corrupt judges would dismiss a client case against them because they are just that kind of a dirt bag.
The government needs to take not that this is why the Ferguson Riots happened... not 'JUST' because a minority was shot, but because there is a systemic and progressive corruption that has corroded the entire system of justice here.
People are getting to close to snapping and before we all know it, all fucking hell will have broken loose and the people in power just seem to give zero fucks about it.
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Re: Easy CHEAT!
At that point you'll realize that your Second Amendment gun rights aren't worth a damn because the Establishment own the national media outlets. Anyone who questions the status quo NOW is considered a POTENTIAL terrorist. So what do you think will happen if you take up arms against it?
That's your problem.
We need to get the numbers and fight this at the ballot, not with bullets. Any attempt at open, armed revolt would result in the authoritarian crackdown they've spent DECADES preparing for.
/tinfoil
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That's really someone people should continue to trust and work with. As they have no incentive to stop being criminals
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The Fish Rots from the Head
These baseless US government seizures of American citizens property is what a person would expect to occur in the Peoples Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) and/or other locales governed by totalitarian governments.
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