It's guys like these, that although inadvertently, when they get snarled in asset forfeiture and choose to fight the system, they slowly induce change. And that matters. This is why states like Minnesota, New Mexico, and North Carolina, with Ohio on tap, are banning the practice before conviction.
(Disclaimer: I don't downvote either. I can't downvote right now anyway, but I think it detracts from the conversation.)
I've carried over $11k through an airport dozens of times and occasionally carried $30k or more.
(I used to be involved with a professional blackjack team. :-) )
> I had approximately $30K on me, but luckily I was wearing it.
> The airline x-ray detected approximately 100,000 dollars in cash and casino chips.
and a 2014 article titled "Poker Players Get Robbed Under Guise of Civil Asset Forfeiture" - http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/17922-lawyer-for-poker-... :
> The fancy legal term may be ‘civil asset forfeiture,’ but for a couple of poker players who saw Iowa police take $100,000 of their money it is just straight up robbery.
> In April of last year, poker players William “Bart” Davis and John Newmerzhycky were driving west through Iowa with out-of-state plates after a poker road trip. In their car was a lot of cash,
So instead of charging him with any crimes, they just took his money? All the fun, without the need for that pesky innocent until proven guilty stuff? Nice.
I would bet you so much, not a soul on HN would dream of carrying 11k in cash through an airport.
It's ok though, we should make sure people have the right to do that, since 300 years ago before we even had ACH transfers or airplanes the constitution guaranteed us protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
There are cases where I sympathize a lot with the victims of civil asset forfeiture, but this is not one of them.