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Last post 2 years ago by Gene363. 31 replies replies.
Got a Safety Deposit Box?
Gene363 Offline
#1 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
Feds Seize 1,000 Safe Deposit Boxes w/One Warrant.

The Feds seized the contents of one thousand private security boxes with one warrant. Some boxes contained drugs or other illegal items along with cash. The people that own the contents of the boxes were told they must identify themselves and prove money or valuables were not obtained illegally, much like civil asset forfeiture.


Quote:
The federal investigation of the unassuming strip mall at West Olympic Boulevard and South Palm Drive has led to allegations of a criminal conspiracy to launder money and distribute illegal drugs. On April 2, federal prosecutors unsealed criminal charges against the safe deposit box business U.S. Private Vaults, claiming the company advertised itself to criminals as a safe place to store valuables and contraband. But according to a lawyer representing clients of U.S. Private Vaults, the government may have overreached in its efforts to uncover malfeasance.

Speaking on behalf of his clients, attorney Benjamin Gluck told the Courier, “Their concern is that the government, without any probable cause or suspicion, has taken away their property and announced that they won’t return it until my clients can prove that they are the ‘legitimate owners.’”

“The government’s position is flatly wrong,” Gluck said.

A federal grand jury indicted U.S. Private Vaults of Conspiracy to Launder Money, Conspiracy to Distribute Controlled Substances, and Conspiracy to Structure Transactions. In the indictment, prosecutors allege that U.S. Private Vaults adopted “business practices that attracted customers in possession of proceeds from criminal offenses, including drug trafficking, and not law-abiding persons.”

According to Gluck, though, people legally used U.S. Private Vaults for all kinds of legitimate purposes. Now, they find themselves ensnared in what he describes as “an unconstitutional government fishing expedition at the cost of losing their possessions.”

On its website, U.S. Private Vaults touts safe deposit boxes “like those found at banks,” but with the promise of two differences: enhanced security and “complete privacy.” The business claims to keep no personal data except for encrypted biometric information used to access the safe deposit boxes. Entering the vault required no names; rather, U.S. Private Vaults employed a dual biometric security system. Normally, customers submit to an iris scan for access, but the store also uses hand geometry recognition as a “backup in case of severe damage or loss of eyes.”
As opposed to a fingerprint scan, a hand geometry reader measures the unique shape of one’s hand. Again, the company promises that hand shape information “is encrypted in a way that it may only be used to verify access to your box, not identify you.”

Furthermore, the business issued unmarked and unnumbered safety deposit keys so that “law enforcement could not determine that the keys unlocked safety deposit boxes at USPV,” according to the indictment.

U.S. Private Vaults states in its Frequently Asked Questions in no uncertain terms what cannot be stored in its facility: no “illegal drugs, weapons, ammunition, hazardous materials, illegal contraband and illegally obtained property or the products therefrom.” The company claims to conduct checks with dogs trained to detect drugs and hazardous materials.

However, the indictment claims that the business operated as a front for a drug dealing operation. It documents multiple interactions between unidentified employees and a confidential informant working with law enforcement to sell illegal marijuana products. In one such encounter on July 26, 2019, a “USPV Officer” sold the informant 1,000 vape cartridges containing THC in exchange for $8,000 in cash. The indictment alleges that the same employee sold an ounce of cocaine to “Confidential Informant 3” through intermediaries.

Obtaining a sealed criminal seizure warrant, agents with the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) spent five days removing the biometric scanners and the safe deposit boxes from the business. Over the course of the search, they found “firearms, illegal drugs, and… cash,” according to court filings. The most common item found was stacks of $100 bills, with one box containing more than $1 million.

“Drug detecting dogs alerted to most, but not all, of the cash stashes,” prosecutors stated.

The government has established a process by which clients of U.S. Private Vaults can reclaim their property. The catch: the formerly anonymous clients must provide their names.

Gluck represents multiple clients who claim their constitutional rights have been violated. He has filed cases on behalf of four of his clients, all of whom have used anonymous pseudonyms like John Doe, Richard Roe, and Michael Moe. In the case of John Doe, Gluck filed a Temporary Restraining Order to halt the search of the safe deposit boxes. But in another Catch-22, a judge declined the order because Gluck “failed to establish, let alone allege, what specific property and which boxes belong to Plaintiff.”

Gluck defended his clients’ rights to anonymity in the case. “Just like any taxpayer would prefer not to be audited by the IRS, any person would prefer not to have the government instigate a ‘criminal investigation’ of them,” he said.

“The United States Supreme Court has said that the purpose of the Fifth Amendment is to protect innocent people in ambiguous circumstances. And the government has announced that they believe that everyone who kept the box there’s a criminal. They don’t have to go through that process, and we declined to participate in it.”


Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy3623YRsMk

News: https://beverlyhillscourier.com/2021/03/25/federal-investigation-takes-over-beverly-hills-strip-mall/

Lawsuit: https://beverlyhillscourier.com/2021/04/08/legal-fight-erupts-after-search-of-safe-deposit-box-company/
Gene363 Offline
#2 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
The private vault company website: https://www.usprivatevaults.com
rfenst Offline
#3 Posted:
Joined: 06-23-2007
Posts: 39,100
Sickening (but with a few exceptions).
Gene363 Offline
#4 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
rfenst wrote:
Sickening (but with a few exceptions).


True!

At one point I was interested in such a business, but located near a border that do allow firearms, NY state/NYC, DC Canada, California etc., to allow a customer to lock up their firearm securely cross the restricted border, return and retrieve their firearm. Firearm laws complicated things though. There are some FFLs that will log in your firearm for "repair/cleaning" but some locations would require a 4473 transfer and background check each time the firearm was picked up.
Mr. Jones Offline
#5 Posted:
Joined: 06-12-2005
Posts: 19,359
The FBI IS THE BIGGEST ORGANIZATION OF CRIMINALS ON THE ENTIRE PLANET..BAR NONE...

THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND BILL OF RIGHTS MEANS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO THEM...THEY BREAK BOTH OF THEM EVERYDAY WITH ZERO REPERCUSSIONS.
DrMaddVibe Offline
#6 Posted:
Joined: 10-21-2000
Posts: 55,301
Ahem...


The FBI is the SS for the DNC.

The DNC is a terrorist organization.

C'mon Jones! said in my best Biden snear.
Speyside Offline
#7 Posted:
Joined: 03-16-2015
Posts: 13,106
I don't even know where to start with this. It is wrong on so many levels.
bgz Offline
#8 Posted:
Joined: 07-29-2014
Posts: 13,023
Ok, I'll play devils advocate here...

The boxes are literally 5 to 20 times the price of a normal safety deposit box.

The company markets itself as being "more private" and "more secure".

Unless you were stashing drugs or cash your trying to launder... WHY THE F*CK WOULD YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT USING THIS SERVICE?
opelmanta1900 Offline
#9 Posted:
Joined: 01-10-2012
Posts: 13,954
I'll go even more devilish and say I'm pretty sure safety deposit boxes are found in bank vaults, specifically banks backed by the federal treasury...

Sounds like this place was literally just running an expensive locker business...
BuckyB93 Offline
#10 Posted:
Joined: 07-16-2004
Posts: 14,111
bgz wrote:
Ok, I'll play devils advocate here...

The boxes are literally 5 to 20 times the price of a normal safety deposit box.

The company markets itself as being "more private" and "more secure".

Unless you were stashing drugs or cash your trying to launder... WHY THE F*CK WOULD YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT USING THIS SERVICE?


Yeah, and those with luxury cars and big boats that cost 5-20x the price of a normal cars or boats must have gotten their money from drugs or money laundering.

The logic trail that takes you from someone paying more than normal = drugs or money laundering needs to be corrected.
Speyside Offline
#11 Posted:
Joined: 03-16-2015
Posts: 13,106
There are legal reasons to want antonimity, but this is a very poor way to do so.
HockeyDad Offline
#12 Posted:
Joined: 09-20-2000
Posts: 46,065
If you have nothing to hide you should have no issue with the government searching your safe deposit box whenever they want to.
rfenst Offline
#13 Posted:
Joined: 06-23-2007
Posts: 39,100
HockeyDad wrote:
If you have nothing to hide you should have no issue with the government searching your safe deposit box whenever they want to.

Fourth Amendment.
Now, if I could only take you half-seriously...
HockeyDad Offline
#14 Posted:
Joined: 09-20-2000
Posts: 46,065
Those amendments are really just kinda guidelines under the OBiden administration.
RayR Offline
#15 Posted:
Joined: 07-20-2020
Posts: 8,796
HockeyDad's sarcasm takes one back to the so-called 'Patriot Act' or even further back to the American colonial days with the 'Writs of Assistance'. Either way the assumption is that you are a subject of the government you live under and have no right to your privacy or property when the government says so.
DrMaddVibe Offline
#16 Posted:
Joined: 10-21-2000
Posts: 55,301
HockeyDad wrote:
Those amendments are really just kinda guidelines under the OBiden administration.


In this day and age where words have fluidity and no real meanings...I mean if child care is now infrastructure then amendments are coloring books.


Abba dabba said the monkey to the chimp!
Speyside Offline
#17 Posted:
Joined: 03-16-2015
Posts: 13,106
HD is cbids pillar of sarcasm, or salt, I am not sure which.
frankj1 Offline
#18 Posted:
Joined: 02-08-2007
Posts: 44,211
don't look back...
Speyside Offline
#19 Posted:
Joined: 03-16-2015
Posts: 13,106
I can't get a lot past you, can I?
frankj1 Offline
#20 Posted:
Joined: 02-08-2007
Posts: 44,211
how would I know for sure?
HockeyDad Offline
#21 Posted:
Joined: 09-20-2000
Posts: 46,065
frankj1 wrote:
don't look back...


I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac a little voice inside my head said “Don't look back, you can never look back”
bgz Offline
#22 Posted:
Joined: 07-29-2014
Posts: 13,023
BuckyB93 wrote:
Yeah, and those with luxury cars and big boats that cost 5-20x the price of a normal cars or boats must have gotten their money from drugs or money laundering.

The logic trail that takes you from someone paying more than normal = drugs or money laundering needs to be corrected.


Uh... not really. You're talking about something that is arguable less secure, basically uninsurable (good luck winning a claim), but 5 times the price.

We're not talking about Linux vs Windows here.

My logic is sound... if you don't agree I got a locker to lease you.
opelmanta1900 Offline
#23 Posted:
Joined: 01-10-2012
Posts: 13,954
You think any of the criminals caught up in this have figured out that they were charged money to participate in what was basically a "turn your illegal stuff into the feds" program? Doesn't seem too difficult to figure out that the fbi was running this business from the get go, hence the rock solid probable cause in the search warrant... but criminals are probably pretty dumb...
Speyside Offline
#24 Posted:
Joined: 03-16-2015
Posts: 13,106
Nah, I bet some will even try to recover their loot.
izonfire Offline
#25 Posted:
Joined: 12-09-2013
Posts: 8,642
Life in the fast lane...
Gene363 Offline
#26 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
It turns out the FBS was NOT authorized to enter the box, but they did include language that enabled them to seize the nest or framework that held all the private boxes. IMO< more FBI misconduct.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjXTV5xmIMk

tonygraz Offline
#27 Posted:
Joined: 08-11-2008
Posts: 20,175
Speyside wrote:
Nah, I bet some will even try to recover their loot.


Sounds like you miss the good old days of looting monasteries along the coast to build the family fortune.
Speyside Offline
#28 Posted:
Joined: 03-16-2015
Posts: 13,106
It was the Templar treasure.
Gene363 Offline
#29 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
After returning the content of approximately 70 boxes the FBI wants to keep the content of the remaining boxes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4OVzbg5CM0

Mr. Jones Offline
#30 Posted:
Joined: 06-12-2005
Posts: 19,359
This store was way ahead of it's time...
Gene363 Offline
#31 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
Good news, A Federal judge didn't buy the FBI's excuses for keeping the contents of the safety deposit boxes, thanks to the Institute of Justice.

"Judge Shuts Down FBI on Safe Deposit Box Forfeiture"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFh61CvhB80

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