(RoyalPatriot.com )- This week, Fox News interviewed a woman whose life savings was lost after the FBI seized the contents of safe deposit boxes from U.S. Private Vaults in Beverly Hills in March 2021.
Linda Martin was among the 1,400 customers whose safe deposit boxes were raided by the FBI. And two years later, she still doesn’t know why the bureau took her nest egg or if she will ever get it back.
During the March 2021 raid, the FBI seized around $86 million in cash, along with tens of millions in gold, silver, and other valuables from safe deposit box renters, including Linda Martin’s savings of $40,200.
Martin told Fox that she and her husband, who had been saving that money to buy a house, did nothing wrong and nobody will tell them why their savings was taken.
Several months after the FBI seized her savings, Martin received a notice that the FBI intended to keep her nest egg through civil forfeiture. Unsure of what that meant, Martin followed the first option listed on the notice and filed a petition with the FBI, not realizing that doing so meant that she was conceding that her property could be forfeited and permitting the FBI to determine if her money will be returned.
Bob Belden, an attorney from Institute for Justice, told Fox News that civil forfeiture allows law enforcement to take property from those who have never been charged with a crime and what happened to Martin is “unfortunately” legal.
Last week, Institute for Justice, along with Martin, filed a putative nationwide class action lawsuit to help anyone whose property was taken by the government in the last six years who received a deficient forfeiture notice like the one sent to Martin.
Martin told Fox that she joined in the action to advocate not only for herself but for everyone who doesn’t know what to do when their property is seized.
“We’re just trying to get justice,” Martin explained.
