you should take the word interesting out of your thread title

They probably could have had the casino in Puerto Rico wire a good chunk of that money to one of their banks back home.

In any case, the real story here is how, after the seizure, they provided sufficient documentation to prove that the money was from their gambling professionally, but a DEA officer still tried to maliciously mislead a judge into making the seizure permanent.

According to the complaint,
the DEA’s background searches on Fiore and Gipson
showed them to be “squeaky clean.” Nonetheless, according
to the complaint, Walden and another DEA agent provided a
false probable cause affidavit to the United States Attorney in
the Northern District of Georgia, to assist in bringing a forfeiture
action. Specifically, Fiore and Gipson allege in the complaint
that this probable cause affidavit falsely stated that
Gipson had been uncooperative and had refused to respond to
questions; that Fiore and Gipson had given inconsistent
answers during questioning; and that there was sufficient evidence
for probable cause to forfeit the funds as drug proceeds.
Also, according to the complaint, Walden left out exculpatory
evidence he knew about when he submitted the affidavit: that
Fiore and Gipson had no history of unlawful drug use or
trade; that they had documentation showing them to be advantage
gamblers; that their bags had passed through an agricultural
x-ray and other inspections used for contraband
detection without incident; that Fiore and Gipson had provided
actual receipts for most of the funds that they carried;
and that the $30,000 Gipson was carrying could be traced
directly to a legal source, his winnings at El San Juan Casino


(The casino provided a letter stating that they had won 30k)

The case was referred to Assistant United States Attorney
(AUSA) Dahil Goss. After determining that Walden had in
fact omitted information, with the result that the probable
cause affidavit he provided was misleading, Goss concluded
that there was no probable cause for the forfeiture of the
funds. Goss contacted Fiore and Gipson and offered to return
their funds in exchange for a release, presumably of any possible
legal claims, but they refused to execute one. Nonetheless,
Goss directed the DEA to return Fiore and Gipson’s
money. The $97,000 was returned to them in Las Vegas on
March 1, 2007, nearly seven months after the seizure at the
Atlanta airport and six months after Fiore and Gipson had
provided Walden with the requested documentation showing
the legal source of their funds.

The TSA is just trying "catch criminals". I doubt drug runners are still using airports to run their drugs, atleast not big time drug dealers.

My cousin just flew and he likes surfing so he always has sex wax in his luggage and the TSA takes it every time.

Basically, once the money is confiscated, it is the responsibility of the owner to prove to the government that the money is not part of an illegal criminal activity. This is clearly an assumption of guilt that the courts have been willing to put aside in the "war" on drugs. Part of the problem here is also that the agency that confiscates the money gets a cut from the DEA. This creates an incentive for some organizations to confiscate now and ask questions later. There were some stories in the major media several years ago about a parish in southern Louisiana stopping expensive looking vehicles and confiscating them under the accusation they were being used by drug dealers, even if no drugs were found.

Cops are the rake.

That's not the worst that I've heard from cops around here.

Why doesn't anyone challenge the constitutionality of this law? Seems ludicrous to me that people in this case do not have the benefit of "innocent until proven guilty."

zero

Welcome to 21st century America. You have no rights. You are merely extended the privilege of not being mugged by government officials until such time as you do something that strikes them as unusual.

How about $10k? 30k? Where is the line between criminal and not? Please let us know since you appear to be an expert on the subject.

Innocent until proven guilty is something that we need to fight for, not just shrug our shoulders and say "If you have nothing to hide, why should you care if they search/detain/steal from you".

Bigger Government = fewer rights

FYI, Drug money is muled through airports ALL THE TIME. I live in Costa Rica where people are regularly apprehended with half a million bucks hidden in their luggage. Here is another example of cartels using multiple mules who carry under the 10k limit who then hand it all over to someone at their destination. http://www.insightcrime.org/insight-...oney-guatemala

"Security of the nation" > Constitution

There is no more "innocent until proven guilty"...

Should people be allowed to transport money or not?

You can ask for a chq at any casino also swift wire there is no need to be travelling around with all that cash these days.

lol! You folks are doing yourselves no favors with this kind of talk. When one travels with that kind of cash they are simply asking for trouble or purely up to no good.