We can expect asset seizures here, in compliance with Canadian demands

 Because they are ALL in the Klaus club. Every one.

US military reported stats for 2021

“We are declaring war on cash,” Visa's Andy Gerlt

The European Union will ban all cash transactions by the end of 2018.
Their reasoning/excuse:  ....."Payments in cash are widely used in the financing of terrorist activities....."
The true and sole reason:  Control of all citizens within the European Union.  Total control.
'Excuse me, Mr. & Mrs. Eurosheep, you don't agree with our policies on tracking your every move and recording your phone conversations ?  No problem.  Hold on a second, just have to select something on your profile..... there it is.  - click/save -  Now, you can't purchase food - anywhere.'
Nudge.



Originally posted on marketslant.com
Here is yet more proof of what happens when slow, methodical planning, manufactured consent, and corporate influence combine their forces. The result is an unholy union between academic ideologists, political puppets, and corporate greed manifested in what can only be described as a juggernaut; A slow, relentlessly moving object that will crush anything in its path. Note juggernauts are also prone to crushing their devotees as well.
Per Wikipedia

A juggernaut  in current English usage, is a literal or metaphorical force regarded as mercilessly destructive and unstoppable. This usage originated in the mid-nineteenth century[2] as an allegorical reference to the Hindu temple cars of Jagannath Temple in Puri, which apocryphally were reputed to crush devotees under their wheels.

When you have political, capitalistic, and ideological forces aligned; you get economic, political, and technological forces almost religiously agreeing on a course  of action. In this case, Multiculturalist Ideology, Government Shills, and New Tech can now make their play on creating an even more captive consumer / sheeple. 
Visa's Pitch to India

Once they have total control, you will lose it all to asset seizure

And among the people championing the convenience of a cashless society are those who use  iphones to buy Starbucks coffee. These devotees who will sacrifice freedom for convenience will not be spared. They will be crushed under the juggernaut when alternate choices of transacted commerce are eliminated.
Kind of like the middle class thinking Trump was going to help them. Or the bitter left that thought Hillary was actually liberal. There are only degrees of authoritarianism now. And those in power are the elitists who state they know what is best for you. It also happens to be what is best for them. And cash - or more correctly control of how cash is spent - is an obstacle to that
There is nowhere to hide. The cashless society is coming, and with it, your freedom to spend where and when you see fit. Your ability to get fair prices from open trade borders will be closed. And when you convert your paper to Gold, that will be attacked next.
And those  people using Bitcoin to transfer wealth out of countries to retain their economic freedom we say  this; What are you going to transfer your wealth into? Are you going to leave it in Bitcoins? Then enjoy 100% volatility.
Risk cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be  exchanged for different risk. The wall is being built alright. It is being built around your economic freedom. Then the cries of BUY AMERICAN will sound out,  as you will not be able to buy anywhere  else. And American corporations will own your spending habits. Do you think supermarkets want to make less money when they ask for your "Club Card"?
You should be very scared when a bank spokesperson feels confident enough to actually say what he did. That means he thinks its a done deal. That headline is an actual quote. 
- VBL

Banks Are Scheming to Dominate a Future Cashless Society

Written by Shaun Bradley for theantimedia.org
Visa recently announced its new Cashless Challenge program, which offers $10,000 to restaurants willing to transition into accepting only digital payments.  As the largest credit card processor in the U.S., it’s no surprise Visa is spearheading this campaign. Under the guise of increasing transparency and efficiency, they’ve partnered with governments around the world to help convert financial systems into cashless models, but their real incentive is the billions of dollars in extra transaction fees it would generate.

“We are declaring war on cash,” Visa spokesman Andy Gerlt proudly proclaimed after the program was announced.

The food-based small businesses Visa is targeting are among those that benefit most from accepting cash from customers. When transactions are for amounts less than $10, the fees charged cut significantly into profits. Only 28% of food trucks currently accept credit card payments because of the huge losses they incur from them. The bribe from Visa may seem appealing up front but will be mostly paid back to them over the next few years in fees alone.
Liz Garner, Vice President of the Merchant Advisory Group, which represents over 100 of the largest businesses in the U.S., explained some of the hurdles faced when dealing with card networks:
“For many businesses – both large and small – the cost of accepting plastic cards and other forms of electronic payments is one of their highest operating costs. Most business owners have no qualms about paying reasonable fees for business services, and they do so every day for items such as cleaning services, security systems, Wi-Fi, and other basic needs. However, they have the ability to negotiate for those services in a fair and transparent marketplace, which they do not with the two major credit and debit card networks….Credit card and debit card fees are dictated directly by Visa and MasterCard and are imposed on the majority of merchants in a take-it-or-leave-it fashion. Most businesses feel that failing to accept these major card brands is not a competitive option so they continue accepting electronic payments even though the costs are squeezing their business, and the inflexible acceptance rules fly in the face of free market enterprise,”
This ongoing push for a cashless society in Europe, Asia, and the Americas is about much more than just phasing out paper money — it’s about central planners solidifying control over the public’s wealth. This ongoing merger of corporate and government interests is the definition of crony capitalism. Regardless of the blatant collusion, the choices individuals make will still ultimately decide the direction for the future. Buying material goods on credit has become a lifestyle for millions, but the long-term costs of those decisions must be understood if there’s any chance for progress.
Americans have made a huge mistake by running up a staggering $1 trillion dollars in credit card debt with an average interest rate of over 16%. Thanks to the Federal Reserve system, companies like Mastercard, Discover, and American Express can issue bonds paying extremely low-interest rates to the investors while simultaneously lending that money out to credit card holders at sky high rates. Companies will always take advantage of opportunities to increase profits, but the people’s willingness to keep borrowing from them is at the core of the problem.
Access to cheap capital has been extended to the largest corporations for over a decade, but when it comes to small businesses or individuals there is a completely different set of standards. The pressure to consistently increase revenues and stock prices has led to an unnatural parasitic relationship between these companies and their customers. Cash is one of the last options that allows people a way to avoid dealing with this kind of shakedown.
More than
30% of all payments
 in the U.S. are still conducted in cash, but
financial intermediaries
 that charge processing fees are
joining
 with the State and central banks to ensure the public has no room to innovate. Credit and debit cards have been the most convenient way to make purchases for over a decade, but emerging competition is slowly making them irrelevant.
Bitcoin and smart contract platforms have introduced an entirely new marketplace for businesses and individuals outside the dominion of the old financial vanguard. Dozens of large corporations have founded the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance to build support for other developing alternative blockchain technologies aside from Bitcoin. This ongoing evolution towards peer-to-peer payments will eventually doom companies like Visa to the same fate as Blockbuster. Those in power may champion the benefits of going cashless, but going bankless may be the only way out of this extortion matrix.
The efforts by governments and the financial industry to eliminate cash are only going to intensify. Those who adapt to the new paradigm of peer-to-peer payments will thrive, while those who don’t will have their hard earned money extracted to support a failing system. The illusion of banks being safe should have been shattered after the 2008 crisis, but eventually, the reality of how unstable the current institutions are will become apparent. Educating entrepreneurs and businesses on the benefits of Bitcoin and other decentralized options is the only way to shift this economy away from the control of central planners and towards a free and voluntary market.

The IRS Now Has Moved Beyond Extortion To Outright Theft While the Polic...

Civil Forfeiture: actually, it's over 42 billion and counting seized against innocent US citizens

ERAD - Device cops use to steal money from your credit cards, prepaid cards and can scan cards for any cash the occupants are carrying so they can pull it over and SEIZE YOUR PROPERTY

Wow. Villainous thugs pull you over and rob you, steal your money, then drain your bank accounts.

Private Vaults and Depositorys...a scam

Thing is this. Places that offer to store your gold and silver for you, no matter how sincere, will be THE VERY FIRST PLACE ANY GOVERNMENT WILL DESCEND UPON for asset seizure, which exceeds 40 billion a year in the US alone. And they will take it all, every thing they find, they'll take it. Look it up, it's a bad beat. More money and assets are stolen through seizure than through criminal enterprise, according to the FBI and you cannot do a thing to stop it, unwind it, or ever see it again. It's a license to steal and they use it.
 

You don't have to be guilty of a crime.
 

Now, when a government declares ownership of PMs limited to a certain amount or outright illegal in order to backup their bankrupt dollars, where do you think the VERY FIRST PLACE THEY WILL GO? Private vault depositories. They will go to these vaults, with armed federal agents and a truck and take it all. What a score that day will be, all over the country.
 

These vaults are a scam. You might just as well burn your money. Not to mention the ones that ARE SCAMS that take off with your cash, as is very often the case in the last 5 years. And those sites that pitch storing PMs in offshore vaults on the other side of the world? Do you think you can just show up and take your product?
 

Sorry...but in our times, it's a fool's play. 

Store it yourself and not in your house. Put it some place where only you can find it and you have access no matter what. At least then, you have a chance at keeping it, especially in our surveillance society. This isn't the 1930s people: they see everything now. So you have to be smarter. If they know where it is, they will take it when the time comes. And you have to know that precious metal owners are most definitely on a list. And in our times, they no longer politely knock on doors - they kick them in, shoot the dog, and point machine guns at your children.
 

And if you think the rent a cops that work at these places will defend your investment, think again. Nothing is what they will do - they risk a dozen federal charges or death if they try to stop armed agents from illegally seizing precious metal storages. No one will do a thing other than eagerly open the doors, surrender their weapons, and help them carry it to their waiting trucks. For 12 bucks an hour no one is going to risk any prison or pain for someone elses gold. No vault is truly safe and secure, not in our age of asset seizure and bail-ins. Plus, what about the three vaults that turned out to be fake, pretending to store people's gold but instead, running off with the money. One in Singapore and two in Texas?
 

This public service announcement has been brought to you by a sincere aspiration to see you keep what you've worked so very hard for.

if you don't hold it, you don't own it.

This now describes what it is like to be an American in our era...

* Your fleeing your local area because the authorities are spraying your community with a neurotoxin and you don't want your children to be aggressive retards... literally. Chemtrails and death go hand in hand.

*  You can no longer afford the rent you have to pay yearly to the government for the house that you own.

*  Your first amendment is under attack due to "racism". Everything you say, unless it is pro LGBTFCKO IS being used against you, whether you are aware of it or not.

*  Your country has been engaged in perpetual war for perpetual peace and now they have bit off more than they can chew, risking WWIII and the complete annihilation of your population.

* Cops kicking in doors, shooting dogs and blowing peoples faces off with flash grenades have replaced random acts of kindness. And, after it is all over, YOU will be blamed for any and all death or damage to anyone or anything. 

* If you get pulled over you are likely to get jabbed with a needle for your DNA or asked to hand over your wallet to get your cash with no legal recourse, violating 3 amendments of the US constitution and is outright highway ROBBERY. By the very people who SWORE TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION.

*  Torture, black bag jobs and extrajudicial proceedings are now legal and commonplace for those considered enemas of the state.

*  The population in some areas are no longer able to deny that their children receive injectable poisons designed to make them feeble idiots courtesy of those who brought you everything above.

*  Now they are after the populations ability to defend itself.

Yeah there might be a problem.

And your teachers, parents, friends, and everyone else blindly leading you down the path of ignorance and slavery...

Police can now steal money from debit and credit cards under asset forfeiture

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/08/cops_can_skim_your_cards/

Hand over your cash...now!

Police Steal More from Citizens Than All Burglars Combined, Report Shows

Police are stealing more from citizens annually than criminals, thanks to civil asset forfeiture — or “stop and seize” — and the value of the theft is in the billions.
Civil asset forfeiture allows cops to seize cash and/or property from those deemed guilty until proven innocent, and in some cases, all they need is a thin veil of probable cause to do so. They don’t even need a warrant. What’s more, authorities are not only able to take what they like from these presumed criminals, they’re also legally allowed to keep it – anything from money, to vehicles, to entire homes – and the practice has been on the rise, showing a “meteoric, exponential increase” over the last decade, according to a recent report by the non-profit civil liberties law firm Institute for Justice.
Perhaps the most problematic aspect of the chronic civil asset forfeiture is that one does not even need to be charged with a crime, much less convicted of one.

Asset forfeiture funds collected at the federal level by the Department of Justice and the U.S. Treasury tripled from $1.5 billion in 2008 to $4.5 billion in 2014, as compared with an FBI report stating “[v]ictims of burglary offenses suffered an estimated $3.9 billion in property losses in 2014.”
Institute for Justice report co-author Dick Carpenter believes at least one explanation for the dramatic rise in civil asset forfeitures is due to the “lean economic years” 2008 to 2014 have posed, stating, “Forfeiture is an attractive way to keep revenue streams flowing when budgets are tight.”
“With government unable to pay police as much as they need or would like, police are confiscating their revenue directly from the populace,” Bloomberg reports, and as far as a 2014 Washington Post report is concerned, “a little-known cottage industry of private police-training firms” is behind it all.

“A thriving subculture of road officers… now competes to see who can seize the most cash and contraband, describing their exploits in the network’s chat rooms and sharing ‘trophy shots’ of money and drugs.”

That same Washington Post report quotes Deputy Ron Hain of Kane County, Ill., as stating in a self-published book he wrote under a pseudonym, “All of our home towns are sitting on a tax-liberating gold mine.” In that book, Hain urges “turning our police forces into present-day Robin Hoods.”
The same failure in funding our infrastructure that sends our public schools begging for their very survival now has our police forces robbing from the citizens they are designed to protect in order to pay their own wages, and somewhere along the line, they started getting carried away.
Thousands upon thousands of citizens have been forced to either suck it up and take the loss or attempt fighting the issue in court, attempting to regain their seized assets. Frequently, the value of the assets seized is of such a small amount, however, that a pricey court battle is not worth the effort, so cops win by default. Though the value of seized assets can vary, forfeitures can average anywhere from $650 to $1,250, but even be as small as a single dollar. Done enough, however, it adds up quickly.
Furthermore, authorities found to have seized assets unjustly almost never receive any form of discipline for their actions.
There are double-standards, too. In Washington D.C., for example, owners of seized property only have 30 days to contest their forfeiture; whereas, the city has an entire year to file its civil forfeiture action against an alleged suspect, and they can sit on the owner’s assets the entire time. Nor do they even have to take good care of it. Sean Day, co-counsel to a class-action lawsuit against D.C. for its civil asset forfeiture practice, says, “It’s become a cash cow for a lot of jurisdictions, frankly.”
There is also a federal loophole commonly known as “equitable sharing” that police departments can use to sidestep state and local civil forfeiture laws, allowing them to tap into a slice of the economic pie by utilizing federal civil forfeiture laws. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-MI., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY., put forth legislation in 2014 in the hopes of restricting, or even eliminating equitable sharing, however, with Walberg calling his bill “common-sense” because it “does not detract from good law enforcement,” adding that Americans should be able to live “without the fear of overweening government.”
Even more aggravating is the fact that victims of civil asset forfeiture in places like D.C. who wish to fight for their right to win back their own property may be faced with a fee to even begin the process. They must pay 10 percent of the value of their seized assets before they can begin proceedings, ranging from $250 up to $2,500. Failure to pay means the authorities automatically win and get to keep the seized property.
Additionally, once one pays the 10 percent fee and makes it into court, the burden of proof then rests on the shoulders of the robbed citizen, who has to prove by a “preponderance of the evidence” that they have absolutely no connection to criminal activity in order to win back their property, which is a great deal more evidence than a department, such as D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), needs to show in order to keep it. Citizens also do not have a right to any form of court-appointed counsel since these matters play out in civil, rather than criminal court. If you’re too broke to pay to fight, you lose by default.
Fortunately, 36 states ask for a little more evidence than Washington D.C. before the system is willing to look the other way regarding citizen’s pilfered property, but the fact remains that U.S. citizens are being robbed blind, and the greater culprits are not bandits in black masks and knit hats, but our good old boys in blue.

A License to Steal

Gale's Educational Media: A License to Steal: Gone are the days of "Fair Play", the constitution never really meant anything, the bill of temporary rights either, and the...

asset seizure

http://www.blacklistednews.com/Civil_Asset_Forfeiture%3A_Guilty_Until_Proven_Innocent/44902/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Greek banks to seize 30% of depositers moneys. Like asset seizure done by the police, this is organized crime made legal.

This is what capital controls mean: ban cash and seize assets. Steal from the middle class and poor to create endless poverty and wealth confiscation. Soon, to America.

US Police And Prosecutors Fight To Retain Barbaric Right of “Civil Asset Forfeiture” STEALING AND ROBBING CITIZENS, YET ARRESTING SOMEONE FOR ROBBING A BANK...UH, WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

by Mike Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg
Land of the Unfree – Police and Prosecutors Fight Aggressively to Retain Barbaric Right of “Civil Asset Forfeiture”

Efforts to limit seizures of money, homes and other property from people who may never be convicted of a crime are stalling out amid a wave of pressure from prosecutors and police.

Their effort, at least at the state level, appears to be working. At least a dozen states considered bills restricting or even abolishing forfeiture that isn’t accompanied by a conviction or gives law enforcement less control over forfeited proceeds. But most measures failed to pass.

     – From the Wall Street Journal article: Efforts to Curb Asset Seizures by Law Enforcement Hit Headwinds
The fact that civil asset forfeiture continues to exist across the American landscape despite outrage and considerable media attention, is as good an example as any as to how far fallen and uncivilized our so-called “society” has become. It also proves the point demonstrated in a Princeton University study that the U.S. is not a democracy, and the desires of the people have no impact on how the country is governed.
Civil asset forfeiture was first highlighted on these pages in the 2013 post, Why You Should Never, Ever Drive Through Tenaha, Texas, in which I explained:

In a nutshell, civil forfeiture is the practice of confiscating items from people, ranging from cash, cars, even homes based on no criminal conviction or charges, merely suspicion. This practice first became widespread for use against pirates, as a way to take possession of contraband goods despite the fact that the ships’ owners in many cases were located thousands of miles away and couldn’t easily be prosecuted. As is often the case, what starts out reasonable becomes a gigantic organized crime ring of criminality, particularly in a society where the rule of law no longer exists for the “elite,” yet anything goes when it comes to pillaging the average citizen.

One of the major reasons these programs have become so abused is that the police departments themselves are able to keep much of the confiscated money. So they actually have a perverse incentive to steal. As might be expected, a program that is often touted as being effective against going after major drug kingpins, actually targets the poor and disenfranchised more than anything else.

Civil asset forfeiture is state-sanctioned theft. There is no other way around it. The entire concept violates the spirit of the 4th, 5th and 6th amendments to the Constitution. In case you have any doubt:

The 4th Amendment: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The 5th Amendment: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

The 6th Amendment: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

Civil asset forfeiture is a civil rights issue, and it should be seen as such by everyone. Just because it targets the entire population as opposed to a specific race, gender or sexual orientation doesn’t make it less important.
The problem with opposition in America today is that people aren’t seeing modern battle lines clearly. The greatest friction and abuse occurring in these United States today comes from the corporate-fascist state’s attack against average citizens. It doesn’t matter what color or gender you are. If you are weak, poor and vulnerable you are ripe for the picking. Until people see the battle lines clearly, it will be very difficult to achieve real change. Most people are divided and conquered along their superficial little tribal affiliations, and they completely miss the bigger picture to the peril of society. Which is why women will support Hillary just because she’s a woman, not caring in the least that she is a compromised, corrupt oligarch stooge.
In case you have any doubt about how little your opinion matters when it comes to the rights of police to rob you blind, read the following excerpts from the Wall Street Journal:

Efforts to limit seizures of money, homes and other property from people who may never be convicted of a crime are stalling out amid a wave of pressure from prosecutors and police.

Read that sentence over and over again until you get it. This is a free country?

Critics have taken aim at the confiscatory powers over concerns that authorities have too much latitude and often too strong a financial incentive when deciding whether to seize property suspected of being tied to criminal activity.

But after New Mexico passed a law this spring hailed by civil-liberties groups as a breakthrough in their effort to rein in states’ forfeiture programs, prosecutor and police associations stepped up their own lobbying campaign, warning legislators that passing such laws would deprive them of a potent crime-fighting tool and rip a hole in law-enforcement budgets.

Their effort, at least at the state level, appears to be working. At least a dozen states considered bills restricting or even abolishing forfeiture that isn’t accompanied by a conviction or gives law enforcement less control over forfeited proceeds. But most measures failed to pass.

“What happened in those states is a testament to the power of the law-enforcement lobby,” said Scott Bullock, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, a libertarian-leaning advocacy group that has led a push for laws giving property owners more protections.

It seems the only people in America without a powerful lobby group are actual American citizens. See: Charting the American Oligarchy – How 0.01% of the Population Contributes 42% of All Campaign Cash

Prosecutors say forfeiture laws help ensure that drug traffickers, white-collar thieves and other wrongdoers can’t enjoy the fruits of their misdeeds and help curb crime by depriving criminals of the “tools” of their trade. Under federal law and in many states, a conviction isn’t required.

“White-collar thieves,” they say. Yet I haven’t seen a single bank executive’s assets confiscated. Rather, they received taxpayer bailout funds with which to pay themselves record bonuses after wrecking the global economy. Don’t forget:
The U.S. Department of Justice Handles Banker Criminals Like Juvenile Offenders…Literally

In Texas, lawmakers introduced more than a dozen bills addressing forfeiture during this year’s legislative session, which ended Monday. Some would either force the government to meet a higher burden of proof or subject forfeiture programs to more stringent financial disclosure rules and audits.

But only one bill, which law-enforcement officials didn’t object to, ultimately passed. It requires the state attorney general to publish an annual report of forfeited funds based on data submitted by local authorities. That information, at the moment, is only accessible through freedom-of-information requests.

This is what a corporate-statist oligarchy looks like.
Shannon Edmonds, a lobbyist for the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, said local enforcement officers and prosecutors “educated their legislators about how asset forfeiture really works in Texas.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan last month vetoed a bill that would, among other things, prohibit the state from turning over seized property to the federal government unless the owner has been charged with a federal crime or gives consent.
Remember, the terrorists hate us for our freedom.

Prosecutors said the Tenaha episode was an isolated breakdown in the system. “Everybody knows there are bad eggs out there,” Karen Morris, who supervises the Harris County district attorney’s forfeiture unit, told Texas lawmakers at a hearing this spring. “But we don’t stop prosecuting people for murder just because some district attorneys have made mistakes.”

When police aren’t out there stealing your hard earned assets without a trial or charges, they can often be found pounding on citizens for kicks. I came across the following three headlines this morning alone as I was the scanning news.

Cop Exonerated After Being Caught on Video Brutally Beating A Tourist Who Asked For A Tampon
Kids in Police-Run Youth Camp Allegedly Beaten, Threatened By Cops
Florida Cop Charged With On-Duty Child Abuse; Suspended With Pay
This is not what freedom looks like.

Home › Big Brother & Police State › Police Seize $63,530 From Veteran Because He Kept It In Grocery Bags Police Seize $63,530 From Veteran Because He Kept It In Grocery Bags

(Daniel Jennings)  Simply carrying a large amount of cash in a grocery sack in your car is now sufficient grounds for a police officer to seize your money, a US circuit court has ruled. A panel of the Eighth US Circuit Court of Appeals found that all a deputy has to do to seize cash from a person is say it is drug money.
The court refused to return the $63,530 that Deputy Dave Wintle seized from a disabled veteran named Mark A. Brewer during a traffic stop in 2011. Brewer was never charged with a crime or even given a traffic ticket. Yet the decorated Air Force veteran lost his savings when a drug-sniffing dog smelled marijuana on it, even though no cannabis was found in Brewer’s car or his home.
Brewer saved the money from disability payments and his Air Force pay — as documents deputies found in the car indicated. He said he was traveling to Los Angeles to visit his uncle and to use the money as a down payment for a house. He added he was hoping his uncle could help him get a job there.
“The record here does not make clear whether the seized currency constitutes property used to facilitate a drug offense or proceeds from a drug offense,” Judge Bobby E. Shepherd wrote in a March 23 opinion upholding the seizure. “For the purposes of analysis, however, we will assume that the currency facilitated a drug offense and is thus subject to [to be seized].”
It was taken through a legal mechanism called civil forfeiture. (Listen to Off The Grid Radio’s report on civil forfeiture here.)
Brewer’s ordeal began when he was driving through Douglas County, Nebraska, outside of Omaha on Interstate 680 in November 2011. Wintle, a Douglas County sheriff’s deputy, pulled him over for not signaling when he made a lane change, and then Wintle asked for permission to search the vehicle.
Keeping Cash in a Grocery Bag Can Lead to Seizure
Wintle had just run a background check on Brewer and found he had “no major violations” on his record when he had the dog search the car. The search was apparently prompted by Wintle’s discovery of $1,000 in cash in Brewer’s pocket. He then found the other money in grocery sacks in a backpack.

Bitcoin gets taken down by Feds