Indiana Cops Seized Their Cash From a FedEx Hub. Prosecutors Just Agreed To Return It.
Indiana prosecutors will return $42,000 in cash they seized from a California small business, several months after the owners filed a class action lawsuit alleging that law enforcement is exploiting a major FedEx shipping hub in Indianapolis to seize millions of dollars in cash from innocent owners.
The Institute for Justice (I.J.), a public interest law firm, announced last week that prosecutors in Marion County, Indiana, have agreed to return the money to its clients Henry and Minh Cheng, who run a California jewelry wholesaler business. Police seized the cash from a FedEx package en route to them from a client in Virginia. County prosecutors then filed a lawsuit to forfeit their money through a process called civil asset forfeiture, claiming the Chengs’ money was connected to a violation of a criminal statute. However, the complaint never stated which statute.
The Chengs’ suit says they’re not the only victims. According to I.J., the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office has sued to forfeit $2.5 million in currency from at least 130 FedEx parcels in transit from one non-Indiana state to another over the past two years through civil asset forfeiture. I.J. alleges that the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office then files deficient forfeiture actions against seized cash, which fail to notify owners of what crimes they’re suspected of committing. I.J. argues the whole scheme violates a wide range of constitutional rights, including the Fourth, Eighth, 10th, and 14th Amendments.
“I’m ecstatic at the prospect of getting my money back,” Henry Cheng said in an I.J. press release, “and this is just the beginning. What happened to my company shouldn’t happen to anyone. Indiana should stop trying to steal from law-abiding citizens by seizing property and figuring out lat
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