CBP Seized My Cash at the Airport Lawyer

Customs and Border Protection took the money, gave you a receipt, and let you continue your trip. Nobody was arrested and nobody was charged. That combination convinces many travelers that the matter will sort itself out. It will not. A currency seizure at an airport starts a separate legal process aimed at the money rather than at you, and that process runs on a schedule that does not wait for you to get home, find the paperwork, or decide what to do.

The proceeding is brought against the property itself, which is why it can proceed without any criminal charge and why an acquittal or a decision not to prosecute does not return the funds. The government does not have to prove you committed a crime. It has to establish that the currency is forfeitable, and if you do nothing, it never has to establish anything at all: the money is forfeited administratively by default.

Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. represents travelers whose currency was seized at Washington Dulles International Airport and other ports of entry. The first step is reading the seizure notice and calendaring the date printed on it. Call (888) 437-7747 to discuss a seizure.

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What Actually Happened When the Money Was Taken

Currency seizures at airports usually begin in one of three ways. A traveler answers a question about how much they are carrying and the answer does not match what is found. A declaration form is completed inaccurately. Or a screening or inspection turns up currency that was never declared at all.

From that point the money is treated as property subject to forfeiture. The traveler receives a custody receipt at the airport, and a formal notice of seizure follows later by mail from the agency. Those are different documents and only the second one starts the clock that matters. Travelers who never receive the notice, because they gave a foreign address or moved, lose the money without ever knowing the process was running.

It is worth being clear about what the government has to show. Forfeiture requires a connection between the currency and conduct the law makes forfeitable. Carrying a large amount of cash is not itself unlawful. Failing to report it when the law requires a report is a separate matter, and so is giving a false answer about it. Which of those the agency is actually relying on determines what the defense looks like, and it is not always apparent from the notice.

The Reporting Requirement, and Why No Figure Appears on This Page

Federal law requires a report when monetary instruments above a set amount are transported into or out of the United States. The requirement applies to the aggregate carried, not to what any one person holds, and it reaches instruments other than paper currency.

This page does not state the threshold. Reporting figures are set by statute and regulation, they have been adjusted before, and a page that quotes one and is not updated becomes a trap for the person relying on it. Confirm the current figure with counsel or against the current text before deciding whether a report was required in your situation.

One point does not depend on the number. Dividing an amount among travelers so that no individual crosses the reporting line does not avoid the requirement. It is treated as an attempt to evade the report, and it converts a reporting question into a far more serious one. Travelers who did this on advice from someone at a counter or from a relative are frequently the most surprised by the consequence.

The Notice, the Election, and the Date You Cannot Miss

The seizure notice sets out the property, the legal basis claimed, and the options available. It also states a deadline for responding, and that deadline is short. Calendar it the day the notice arrives, because every option below closes when it passes and the money is forfeited without a hearing.

The notice asks you to elect how to proceed. That election is a real decision with real consequences, and it is made on a form that gives no indication of how much turns on it. The two broad directions are an administrative route, in which you ask the seizing agency itself for relief, and a judicial route, in which you file a claim and force the matter into federal district court.

The judicial route is the one that takes the decision away from the agency that took the money. Filing a claim obliges the government to commence a court proceeding, at which point the burden of establishing forfeitability rests with the government and ordinary rules of evidence and discovery apply. The administrative route is faster and less costly, but the decision maker is the agency, and there is no neutral adjudicator.

The Available Responses and What Each One Costs

A petition for remission or mitigation asks the agency to return the money or part of it as a matter of discretion. It concedes the forfeitability of the property and asks for relief anyway, supported by evidence of lawful source and lawful intended use. It is often the right choice where the reporting failure is clear and the source of the funds is documented.

An offer in compromise proposes a specific resolution, usually a partial return. Like remission, it is decided by the agency.

A claim moves the matter to federal court. It preserves the argument that the currency is not forfeitable at all, and it is the only route that produces a decision by a judge. It also takes longer and exposes the claimant to discovery, including questions about the source of the funds.

Doing nothing, or signing an abandonment form at the airport, ends the matter in the government’s favor. Travelers are sometimes handed an abandonment form during the encounter itself. Nothing should be signed at the airport without counsel.

Criminal Exposure Running Alongside the Seizure

A currency seizure can sit next to a criminal investigation, and the two proceed on separate tracks. Statements made to a federal officer during an inspection can support a charge if they were false and material, and a traveler who understated an amount at the counter has usually already made the statement that matters.

Anything filed in the forfeiture proceeding is available in the criminal one. A remission petition explaining where the money came from is a sworn account of the traveler’s finances, and it cannot be withdrawn once it has been read. Where criminal exposure is a live possibility, the sequencing of the two matters has to be planned rather than improvised, and it is one of the clearest reasons to involve counsel before responding to the notice.

Where a companion criminal charge arises from conduct on federal airport property, that charge proceeds under federal procedure and, for conduct Congress has not separately defined, may borrow a state offense definition through the Assimilative Crimes Act, 18 U.S.C. § 13. The seizure of the currency is not governed by that provision, and the two should not be conflated.

Building the Record on Source and Intended Use

Most currency cases are won or lost on documentation rather than argument. The question the decision maker asks is where the money came from and what it was for, and the answer has to be shown rather than asserted.

Useful material includes bank withdrawal records matching the amount and the date, business records where the funds are business proceeds, sale documents where property was sold, tax filings consistent with the amount, and correspondence establishing the purpose of the trip. Gaps matter. Cash accumulated over a long period, held outside a bank, or pooled from family members is lawful and also very hard to document, and that difficulty is not evidence of wrongdoing even though it is often treated as though it were.

Cultural and practical explanations are worth developing rather than skipping. Many travelers carry cash for reasons that are entirely ordinary in the place they are traveling to. That context belongs in the submission, supported by whatever record exists.

Frequently Asked Questions

I was not arrested. Why is my money still gone?

Because the proceeding is against the property rather than against you. It does not require a criminal charge, and it is not resolved by a decision not to prosecute. The money is returned only if you respond to the notice and prevail, or if the agency grants relief.

How long do I have to respond to a seizure notice?

The notice states the deadline and it is short. This page does not quote a period because the applicable deadline depends on the route the agency has taken and on provisions that change. Read the date on your notice and treat it as firm.

Is carrying a large amount of cash illegal?

No. Carrying cash is lawful. What federal law requires is a report when monetary instruments above a set amount cross the border, and what creates trouble is failing to report, misreporting, or giving a false answer when asked.

Should I file a petition or a claim?

They lead to different places. A petition asks the seizing agency for discretionary relief and concedes forfeitability. A claim moves the matter to federal court, where the government carries the burden and discovery is available. The right choice depends on the documentation you have and on whether criminal exposure exists.

They asked me to sign something at the airport. What was it?

Often an abandonment of the property, which ends any claim to it. Occasionally an election of proceedings. Neither should be signed during the encounter. If you already signed, tell counsel immediately rather than assuming nothing can be done.

Can I get the money back if I simply forgot to declare it?

An honest failure to report is a common posture and it is argued through documentation of lawful source and lawful intended use. It does not automatically return the funds, but it is the situation in which discretionary relief is most often sought.

Does it matter that the cash belonged to someone else?

Yes, and it raises two separate questions: whether the owner can establish an interest sufficient to contest the seizure, and whether the owner bears responsibility for the conduct relied on. Both should be addressed in the response rather than left for the agency to assume.

Working With Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C.

Currency seizures are decided on documentation and on the response filed within the period the notice allows. The firm represents travelers whose funds were seized at Virginia ports of entry, including matters where a criminal investigation is running alongside the forfeiture.

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 currency seized by Customs and Border Protection at a port of entry 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.