A large
part of federal forfeiture practice relates to seizures of wire transfers
and bank accounts. These siezures present a range of legal issues
which the practitioner needs to be aware of in order to competently
represent the claimant/account holder. To that end, two cases won
on appeal by the Center are presented below. These cases highlight
these issues and provide guidance on how to handle the bank account
forfeiture case.
Villalba et. al. vs. Coutts & Co. et al., Case No. 96-5423 (11th
Cir. 1998) - national first impression case on the conflict between
the Electronic Communication Privacy Act and the Bank Secrecy Act
and regulations promulgated thereunder. click
here
Lopez v. First Union and Coronado v. BankAtlantic
Bancorp, 129 F.3d 1186 (11th Cir. 1997) - consolidated national
first impression cases defining the scope of bank account holder's
privacy rights versus the government's right to bank records under
the Bank Secrecy Act. Click
here |
