Charged Under 31 U.S.C. 5332 What Happens Next

A bulk cash smuggling charge does not usually follow immediately from the airport encounter. The currency is taken, the traveller is released, and weeks or longer pass before anything else happens. Some of those matters end in the seizure process without any prosecution. Where a criminal case does follow, the sequence is predictable even though the timing is not.

This page sets out what the period after a charge looks like in the Eastern District of Virginia, and what defense work is available at each stage.

On this page

From Charge to First Appearance

These cases frequently proceed by summons rather than by arrest, particularly for a traveller with a residence, employment, and no history. A summons directs an appearance on a stated date. Where an arrest occurs, the first appearance follows promptly and covers identity, the charge, the right to counsel, and the terms of release.

The hearing is short and is not the place to argue the case, but it sets the conditions that govern the months ahead. Counsel who arrives with residence history, employment records, family ties, immigration status documentation where relevant, and a concrete proposal for supervision is working from a stronger position than counsel meeting the client that morning.

Release Conditions, Passports, and Travel

Release conditions in currency cases reach the thing that matters most to many of these clients, which is international travel. Surrender of a passport is commonly proposed, and for a person whose parents or children live abroad that is a serious consequence rather than an administrative step.

Conditions are negotiable at the margins where the practical effect is shown with evidence rather than described. Employment that requires travel, a relative receiving medical care overseas, and obligations that cannot be performed remotely are the kinds of specifics courts respond to. Conditions can also be revisited as a case develops, and a request supported by documentation later is treated differently from an objection made without one at the outset.

For a client who is not a United States citizen, immigration exposure is assessed alongside the criminal case from the beginning, with immigration counsel, because decisions made for criminal reasons can have consequences on that side that are difficult to undo.

Discovery in an Airport Case

Discovery here looks nothing like a documents case. It is short, and the important parts are the officer’s narrative, any contemporaneous notes, the inspection record, photographs of the currency and the bags, the count sheet, any form the traveller signed, and any camera footage from the inspection area.

Footage deserves particular attention, because it either corroborates or contradicts the narrative and because it does not survive indefinitely. Requests for it are made early and in writing. The same is true of the identity of every officer present, since the narrative is usually written by one person while several observed the encounter.

Defense discovery runs in parallel and is mostly the client’s to assemble: source documents for the funds, travel records, accounts from companions, and a written recollection of the encounter prepared as soon as possible.

The Seized Currency

The seizure proceeding has been running since the day of the encounter. It has its own filings and its own deadlines fixed by statute, and it does not pause because a criminal case has been filed. A claim has to be made in the correct form and on time, and if that window closed while the client waited to see whether charges would follow, the argument is generally gone.

Because the deadlines are statutory, they are confirmed with counsel as soon as a notice arrives. The two proceedings also interact, since a position taken in one can be used in the other, so they are handled together rather than by separate people working in parallel.

The Pace of This District

The Eastern District of Virginia sets criminal matters on a short schedule. Motions deadlines and a trial date follow arraignment quickly, and extensions are not assumed. For a currency case that has a specific consequence: footage, companion accounts, and documents held abroad have to be pursued immediately, because the calendar will not wait for material that could have been requested earlier.

There is an advantage in it as well. The period of uncertainty is shorter here than it is in many places, which matters to a client whose passport is surrendered and whose family is overseas.

Preserving What Still Exists

Very little of the record in an airport case preserves itself. Footage is overwritten on a schedule. Travelling companions return to other countries. Bank records abroad become harder to obtain as accounts change. Recollection of a stressful hour degrades within days.

The response is mechanical and it is started at once. Written preservation requests for footage. A dated written account from the client and from each companion. Collection of the source documents while the people who hold them are reachable. Instructions to companions that they are free to speak with anyone or to decline, that they should not be told what to say, and that they may need counsel of their own where their exposure differs from the client’s.

Frequently Asked Questions

The money was taken months ago and nothing has happened. Is it over?

Not necessarily, and the assumption is a costly one. A charging decision can come later, and the seizure proceeding has been running since the day of the encounter with deadlines that pass whether or not anyone is charged. The first step is establishing where both tracks actually stand rather than inferring from silence that the matter has ended.

Will I have to surrender my passport?

It is commonly proposed as a release condition in currency cases, and the court decides on the facts. Where travel is genuinely necessary, for employment or for a relative receiving care abroad, the practical effect is presented with documentation rather than described in general terms. Conditions can also be revisited later, so an initial condition is not always a permanent one.

Is the criminal case the same as getting my money back?

No. They are separate proceedings with separate rules, separate filings, and separate statutory deadlines, and the criminal outcome does not settle the currency. Both are addressed from the outset, and the positions taken in each are coordinated, because what is said in one can be used in the other.

Can I still travel to see my family while the case is pending?

That depends entirely on the conditions the court sets. It is one of the first things to raise with counsel, because a condition that would sever contact with a parent or a child abroad is treated differently from one that is merely inconvenient when the specifics are actually put before the court. Requests are supported with documents rather than assertions.

My relatives were travelling with me. What should they do?

They should write down their own account of the encounter while it is fresh, keep every document they were given, and consider counsel of their own. Their interests may not match the client’s, particularly where the currency was aggregated across the group. Nothing said to them should suggest what their account ought to be, and that boundary is explained to them plainly.

How long will the case take?

This district moves criminal matters on a short schedule, so the interval between arraignment and a trial date is compressed, and the court sets the schedule in the particular case. The practical consequence for the defense is that investigation begins at once, since the material that matters most in these cases is the material that disappears first.

Working With Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C.

After a currency charge the record is already decaying, so footage requests, companion accounts, and source documents are pursued before anything else.

Mr. Sris, Owner and Founder of Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C., is a former prosecutor and is admitted in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York. The firm has been practicing since 1997. Mr. Sris and the firm’s Of Counsel attorneys handle criminal defense matters across those jurisdictions, which matters in federal practice because a single investigation frequently reaches conduct, witnesses, and records in more than one state. Mr. Sris brings a background in accounting and information systems from George Mason University, applied to complex financial and technology-related cases.

The firm serves Northern Virginia from 1655 Fort Myer Dr, Suite 700, Room 719, Arlington, VA 22209 and central Virginia from 7400 Beaufont Springs Drive, Suite 300, Room 395, Richmond, VA 23225. By appointment. Call (888) 437-7747 to schedule. Request a consultation. Reach our location at (888) 437-7747.

This page provides general information about what happens after a federal charge under 31 U.S.C. § 5332 and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Case results depend on a variety of factors unique to each case. Results may vary.

Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Attorney responsible for this advertising: Mr. Sris.