Does anyone trust the FBI anymore? It seems the highest law enforcement agency America is playing fast-and-loose with right and wrong. The FBI has been caught up in several scandals, often related to Joe Biden.
But that’s just the beginning of the agency’s problems. In 2021, the FBI conducted a raid against a California business accused of money laundering.
The agency seized over 1,400 safety deposit boxes owned by private citizens. It searched those boxes, without acquiring warrants—as the law demands. Now, a federal court is dropping the gavel on this law enforcement agency.
The FBI violated private citizens’ constitutional rights when it seized contents from hundreds of safe deposit boxes during a 2021 raid on a Beverly Hills business suspected of money laundering, a federal appeals court ruled last week…
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found the bureau violated U.S. Private Vaults box holders’ Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures by opening and cataloging the contents of 1,400 safe deposit boxes without individual criminal warrants for each.
The Jan. 23 ruling reversed a 2022 lower court decision siding with the FBI and requires federal officials to destroy any inventory records of the hundreds of box holders not charged with a crime. [Source: Fox News]
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the FBI violated the 4th Amendment Rights of over one thousand Americans. The agency searched the deposit boxes of customers of U.S. Private Vaults. The company was under investigation for money laundering.
But the law requires the FBI to gain warrants before it searches the private records or materials of U.S. citizens. The agency did not do so, but searched those boxes and recorded what they contained. The court decided the FBI violated those Americans’ rights by doing so.
This comes as the FBI deals with a tarnished reputation, after years of scandals. Many Americans believe the agency is working to advance Democrat political objectives, especially after the Trump administration.
FBI officials investigated the former president without his knowledge. It refused to investigate Hunter or Joe Biden. And it infamously raided Trump’s private home, an unprecedented move that sickened millions.
This latest controversy will not assure Americans that the FBI has their best interests in mind. Law enforcement searched customers’ private belongings, even though they were not involved in the alleged money laundering scheme.
The court is ordering the agency to destroy what documents and records they made of their searches of these boxes.
Author: Bo Dogan
