Home | Community | Message Board

Sporeworks
This site includes paid links. Please support our sponsors.


Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! You are experiencing a small sample of what the site has to offer. Please login or register to post messages and view our exclusive members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, file attachments, board customizations, encrypted private messages, and much more!

Shop: Kraken Kratom Kratom Capsules for Sale, Red Vein Kratom   PhytoExtractum Kratom Powder for Sale   Bridgetown Botanicals CBD Concentrates

Jump to first unread post Pages: 1
OfflinePatlal
You ask too many questions
Male User Gallery


Registered: 10/09/10
Posts: 44,797
Loc: Ottawa Flag
Last seen: 4 hours, 31 minutes
Should this be legal??? Speak up America
    #19205929 - 11/29/13 06:35 PM (10 years, 2 months ago)

Quote:

The grabbing hand of the law

How prosecutors seize the assets of the innocent
Nov 2nd 2013 | From the print edition


THE names of court cases usually make sense. Think of “US v Bernard Madoff” or “US v Timothy McVeigh”. What, then, is “US v $35,651.11”? Why is Uncle Sam prosecuting a heap of money?

The answer, alas, makes even less sense than the name on the docket. Terry Dehko and his daughter Sandy Thomas (pictured) run a grocery store in Fraser, Michigan. It sells everything from bread to hand-made sausages. Fairly often, someone takes cash from the till and puts it in the bank across the street. Deposits are nearly always less than $10,000, because the insurance covers the theft of cash only up to that sum.

In January, without warning, the government seized all the money in the shop account: more than $35,000. The charge was that the Dehkos had violated federal money-laundering rules, which forbid people to “structure” their bank deposits so as to avoid the $10,000 threshold that triggers banks to report a transaction to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Prosecutors offered no evidence that the Dehkos were laundering money or dodging tax. Indeed, the IRS gave their business a clean bill of health last year. But still, the Dehkos cannot get their cash back. “They offered us 20%,” says Ms Thomas, “But if we settle, it looks like we’re guilty of something, which we’re not.”

In criminal cases, the government can confiscate assets only after a conviction. Under “civil forfeiture”, however, it can grab first and ask questions later. Property can be seized merely on the suspicion that it has been involved in a crime. Citizens have no right to a swift hearing. For a small business, that can be fatal. The Dehkos’ store is surviving by paying suppliers late.

In many civil-forfeiture cases the agencies that seize the assets keep most of the proceeds, and can use them to pad their budgets or buy faster patrol cars. It is hard to know how common this is, but the Institute for Justice (a libertarian law firm that is representing the Dehkos) notes that the federal government shared $450m of seized assets with state and local authorities in 2012.

The grabbers do not always prevail. A motel owner in Massachusetts recently won back his motel after prosecutors tried to seize it because one guest in 13,000 had been arrested for drug offences. In October in California, prosecutors who were trying to seize a building because two of the tenants were marijuana dispensaries (which are legal under Californian law), gave up and let the landlord keep it.

But this is scant comfort for the Dehkos, who are struggling to hold on to the store they have run since 1978. “It’s kind of scary that they can do this to you,” says Ms Thomas. “In America, you’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.”




What do you think?

Should there be a law preventing shit like this?
What's your opinion here?
You may choose only one


Votes accepted from (11/29/13 04:35 PM) to (No end specified)
View the results of this poll



--------------------


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
InvisibleSell Your Soul
Nutmeg shaman
 User Gallery

Registered: 03/15/00
Posts: 40,819
Loc: Over there
Re: Should this be legal??? Speak up America [Re: Patlal]
    #19205935 - 11/29/13 06:37 PM (10 years, 2 months ago)

It is what it is.
:shrug:


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Invisibleunam sanctum
 User Gallery


Registered: 04/20/11
Posts: 6,702
Re: Should this be legal??? Speak up America [Re: Sell Your Soul]
    #19205948 - 11/29/13 06:41 PM (10 years, 2 months ago)

Quote:

Sell Your Soul said:
It is what it is.
:shrug:




:facepalm:

it's not what it isn't


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
InvisibleSell Your Soul
Nutmeg shaman
 User Gallery

Registered: 03/15/00
Posts: 40,819
Loc: Over there
Re: Should this be legal??? Speak up America [Re: unam sanctum]
    #19205954 - 11/29/13 06:43 PM (10 years, 2 months ago)

I've always liked you.


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
InvisibleNWlight
Just look


Registered: 01/12/10
Posts: 18,686
Re: Should this be legal??? Speak up America [Re: Sell Your Soul]
    #19205957 - 11/29/13 06:45 PM (10 years, 2 months ago)

but could it be what it should be?


--------------------
:wizard::deemsters:


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Invisibleunam sanctum
 User Gallery


Registered: 04/20/11
Posts: 6,702
Re: Should this be legal??? Speak up America [Re: Sell Your Soul]
    #19205961 - 11/29/13 06:46 PM (10 years, 2 months ago)

wayne brady likes his hoes, but he will choke a bitch


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
InvisibleSell Your Soul
Nutmeg shaman
 User Gallery

Registered: 03/15/00
Posts: 40,819
Loc: Over there
Re: Should this be legal??? Speak up America [Re: unam sanctum]
    #19205964 - 11/29/13 06:47 PM (10 years, 2 months ago)

I haven't seen that dude since that one game show he hosted.
What was it - some singing thing? I forget.


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineMescalean
Burke is love, burke is life.


Registered: 01/18/12
Posts: 6,755
Last seen: 6 years, 10 months
Re: Should this be legal??? Speak up America [Re: Sell Your Soul]
    #19205967 - 11/29/13 06:48 PM (10 years, 2 months ago)

This actually disgusts me and frightens me as one career path I have been thinking about is opening my own business after I complete my education. Fucked up.


--------------------
FREE BURKE


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
InvisibleTrentBoyett
Aspiring Mycologist
Male User Gallery


Registered: 11/29/12
Posts: 16,000
Loc: Kazakhstan
Re: Should this be legal??? Speak up America [Re: Sell Your Soul]
    #19205988 - 11/29/13 06:53 PM (10 years, 2 months ago)



Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Invisibleunam sanctum
 User Gallery


Registered: 04/20/11
Posts: 6,702
Re: Should this be legal??? Speak up America [Re: Sell Your Soul]
    #19206003 - 11/29/13 06:57 PM (10 years, 2 months ago)

Quote:

Sell Your Soul said:
I haven't seen that dude since that one game show he hosted.
What was it - some singing thing? I forget.




Drew Carey show? he might as well have hosted every episode he was in.  he has a shitty agent I guess all he seems to get are third rate guest appearances in shows my parents watch.


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Invisiblerackem
Male User Gallery


Registered: 11/27/09
Posts: 14,024
Re: Should this be legal??? Speak up America [Re: Patlal] * 1
    #19206025 - 11/29/13 07:03 PM (10 years, 2 months ago)

well, lets just keep helping china out and make all the small business go bankrupt..

yea, that makes sense..

fuck these people. they should have bigger fish to fry than a measily 35k.


--------------------


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
InvisibleSell Your Soul
Nutmeg shaman
 User Gallery

Registered: 03/15/00
Posts: 40,819
Loc: Over there
Re: Should this be legal??? Speak up America [Re: unam sanctum]
    #19206032 - 11/29/13 07:04 PM (10 years, 2 months ago)

No, it was a show where people try to guess the lyrics to some song.
Most of the contestants were awful.


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Invisiblepsi
TOAST N' JAM
Male User Gallery

Registered: 09/05/99
Posts: 31,456
Loc: 613 Flag
Re: Should this be legal??? Speak up America [Re: Mescalean]
    #19206046 - 11/29/13 07:07 PM (10 years, 2 months ago)

Yeah civil forfeiture is bullshit. I was listening to a radio show where this guy was talking about how they tried to seize this motel that he owned. The justification was that over the years drug deals had taken place in rooms in the motel. There was no evidence that the owner was complicit or aware of any of the activity, he was never charged or even accused of any crime, nothing. Just the fact that drug crimes had taken place on the property was enough for them to try to seize it.

After a long battle he succeeded in keeping the motel. I think his defense costs were something like $100k but they were ordered to reimburse that.

Edit: this was the show:

http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2013/09/18/the-slippery-slope-of-civil-forfeiture/


Edited by psi (11/29/13 07:11 PM)


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Invisibleunam sanctum
 User Gallery


Registered: 04/20/11
Posts: 6,702
Re: Should this be legal??? Speak up America [Re: Patlal]
    #19206049 - 11/29/13 07:08 PM (10 years, 2 months ago)

hey OP wanna post a link?


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflinePatlal
You ask too many questions
Male User Gallery


Registered: 10/09/10
Posts: 44,797
Loc: Ottawa Flag
Last seen: 4 hours, 31 minutes
Re: Should this be legal??? Speak up America [Re: unam sanctum] * 1
    #19206097 - 11/29/13 07:21 PM (10 years, 2 months ago)

Quote:

unam sanctum said:
hey OP wanna post a link?




It's an article from The Economist.

www.economist.com/news/united-states/21588915-how-prosecutors-seize-assets-innocent-grabbing-hand-law/


--------------------


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Invisibleunam sanctum
 User Gallery


Registered: 04/20/11
Posts: 6,702
Re: Should this be legal??? Speak up America [Re: psi]
    #19206099 - 11/29/13 07:23 PM (10 years, 2 months ago)

worth a read

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/08/12/130812fa_fact_stillman

"Washington, D.C., charges up to twenty-five hundred dollars simply for the right to challenge a police seizure in court, which can take months or even years to resolve."

if our nation's capitol city condones it it must be for our collective good


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Jump to top Pages: 1

Shop: Kraken Kratom Kratom Capsules for Sale, Red Vein Kratom   PhytoExtractum Kratom Powder for Sale   Bridgetown Botanicals CBD Concentrates


Similar ThreadsPosterViewsRepliesLast post
* hey whats up, legalization DailyPot 1,544 12 12/01/04 05:09 PM
by psychedelic_sam
* Leaving America
( 1 2 3 all )
Adom 5,615 44 08/25/03 04:52 PM
by pattern
* America is kinda freaking me out.. anyone else?
( 1 2 all )
Chills420 version2 6,549 38 02/27/03 05:21 PM
by Baby_Hitler
* Nelson Mandela Speaks out on US war with Iraq
( 1 2 3 all )
Spiffy 8,189 56 02/16/03 07:27 PM
by Cracka_X
* To the citizens of the United States of America
( 1 2 all )
trendalM 3,982 22 11/08/04 11:52 PM
by kadakuda
* Wow. America is totally Rightwing now...
( 1 2 3 4 5 6 all )
bf6 10,093 108 11/03/04 06:09 PM
by MAGnum
* Bush is winning, lost faith in america sploogepanz55 1,021 14 11/03/04 01:22 AM
by sploogepanz55
* Legalized drugs = crap?
( 1 2 all )
IAmTheWalrus212 4,263 30 05/03/11 08:36 PM
by Yacub

Extra information
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: Entire Staff
498 topic views. 5 members, 43 guests and 35 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Show Images Only | Sort by Score | Print Topic ]
Search this thread:

Copyright 1997-2024 Mind Media. Some rights reserved.

Generated in 0.056 seconds spending 0.036 seconds on 20 queries.