Court declares class action status for victims of gov’t cash confiscations

A court ruling has declared class action status for all the victims of a government cash confiscation scheme that has been operating in Indianapolis.

It is the Institute for Justice that confirmed a ruling from Marion County Superior Court established the new ground rules for the dispute.

Magistrate Judge Anne Flannelly confirmed that there were several issues at stake, including that the state was confiscating cash at a FedEx transit location where parcels “have no link to Indiana beyond the parcel’s temporary en route presence.”

Further, she said, the state’s lawsuits to confiscate cash use “boilerplate forfeiture complaints that give property owners no notice of the factual and legal basis on which the state claims forfeiture.”

The IJ confirmed that last year, Henry and Minh Cheng sued the Marion County prosecutor over that office’s practice of forfeiting cash routed through the busy FedEx processing center at the Indianapolis airport. Prosecutors tried to forfeit the $42,000 inside the Chengs’ package, and did so without alleging any specific crime.

That money was returned, but they have gone to court seeking a permanent end to the “unconstitutional” practices.

Now it’s a class action case.

“No one should have their money handed over to the government when the government cannot say what they did wrong, but this was happening routinely for years in Indianapolis,” said Marie Miller, an attorney with the Institute for Justice. “With the court approving the Chengs’ suit as a class action, we get to seek justice for many people who find themselves fighting to get their money back simply because it happened to be mailed through Indianapolis.”

The IJ pointed out that for years, “police have seized cash at the busy FedEx processing center, and the Marion County prosecutor has filed civil forfeiture actions on behalf of the state of Indiana to keep the seized money.”

That leaves innocent people like the Chengs having to fight in court for their own money – sometimes hundreds or thousands of miles away from their homes.

The Chengs live in California.

“It’s a profitable practice. Since 2022 alone, Indiana has sued to forfeit more than $2.5 million from in-transit FedEx parcels, and the state has already raked in approximately $1 million from those parcels. To get their money back and to end these predatory practices, Henry and Minh teamed up with the Institute for Justice,” the organization said.

The Chengs’ experience is typical: “Henry and Minh’s experience is typical of many people who find themselves caught up in Indianapolis’ FedEx forfeiture regime. The couple started their wholesale jewelry business about 30 years ago. They travel across the country serving retail shops. And last year, they made a bulk sale to a retailer in Virginia, who was slow to submit payment. A few months after the sale, in April, the retailer informed the couple that she could pay promptly with cash. Henry and Minh agreed to accept that form of payment.”

The retailer shipped the money using FedEx, and it went through Indianapolis, where police jumped on it.

A K-9 had alerted to the cash, allowing police to get a warrant.

Police then found the cash, and no contraband. The county prosecutor then went to court to keep the money, claiming without evidence that it was the result of a violation of a criminal statute.

IJ also is suing the DEA and TSA for seizing money at airports.

The magistrate noted that a class action resolution will provide “relief” to each member of the class.