FBI tries to keep cash and millions in jewelry after raiding a safety deposit box business!

BEVERLY HILLS, Kalifornia (PNN) - June 12, 2021 - The FBI is fighting to keep $86 million in cash and millions of dollars worth of jewelry it confiscated while raiding a Beverly Hills safety deposit box business that was allegedly used by criminals.

A March 9 indictment alleges that U.S. Private Vaults and its customers were laundering money and letting drug dealers store fentanyl, guns and cash in the boxes, and claimed the business marketed itself to crooks.

Agents with the FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency seized the contents of every single box on March 22 after being granted a warrant. Guns, drugs, and millions in cash were among items seized, but many customers say the contents of their boxes were stolen even though they hadn't broken any laws.

Customers of U.S. Private Vaults have since filed a class-action lawsuit in a desperate bid to retrieve their items. They claim neither they nor their seized belongings - many of which have great sentimental value - are in any way linked to any crime.

But prosecutors have argued that the FBI is justified in keeping the seized contents.

The Institute for Justice said in a statement that the FBI has “baselessly alleged that it should be forfeited to the government” after rejecting his requests to return the cash.

The March 17 warrant that the FBI had secured to raid U.S. Private Vaults was granted by U.S. Magistrate Steve Kim - who had directed the FBI to return what was inside to the owners in the warrant.

”This warrant does not authorize a criminal search or seizure of the contents of the safety deposit boxes,” the warrant reads.

Forfeiture laws let law enforcement agencies seize assets if they can be tied to criminal activity; the standard of proof required for the agencies to confiscate the items are generally low.

The form on the FBI's website reads, “To make a claim for property stored at U.S. Private Vaults in Beverly Hills, Kalifornia, please provide the following information. An FBI agent will contact you for additional details.”

”Unlike traditional bank deposit boxes, US Private Vaults are 100% private, allowing your identity to remain completely anonymous,” an advertisement for the company on YouTube states.

The company posted another video to YouTube in 2012 that identifies its president as Steven Gregory.

”Unlike a bank we don't require our customers to show photo ID or provide a Social Security number as a requirement for renting a box,” Gregory says in the video. “We identify our clients through an iris scan and a palm geometry scan.”

According to the indictment, the company had also allegedly advertised, “We don't even want to know your name,” and claimed that it did not require customer information that “can be easily accessed by government agencies (such as the IRS).”

The company even allegedly issued safety deposit box keys that “were unmarked and unnumbered so that law enforcement could not determine that the keys unlocked safety deposit boxes at USPV,” the indictment reads.

Prosecutors claimed that employees would even tip off customers if terrorist pig thug cops were seen in the area.

Customers would access the business with an eye and hand scan to unlock the door.

A manager at U.S. Private Vaults dealt marijuana and cocaine, and prosecutors alleged that the business conspired with a neighboring Gold Business store to launder money.

Prosecutors claimed that employees at the Gold Business sold large amounts of jewelry for cash to a customer of the U.S. Private Vaults who is also a confidential informant working with terrorist pig thug cops.

”I recommend you stay under $10,000 in cash and then you could just do some one day, and a few days later you could do the other,” a Gold Business worker allegedly told an undercover DEA agent posing as a customer.

In the indictment, a federal grand jury charged U.S. Private Vaults with three counts: conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and conspiracy to structure transactions.

The indictment did not name any of the people believed to be behind the illegal activity, and it is not immediately clear if they would independently face criminal charges.