re: Georgia deputies seize over $500,000 in cash during traffic stop

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How can seize money with no evidence?

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Origins: If you’ve ever had call to withdraw a sum of money from the bank that was larger than you’d customarily handle, you may have experienced feeling a corresponding sense of foreboding until the currency was safely transported to its destination. It is often mused money is power; accordingly, being in possession of large sums of cash (for instances such as a private party car sale) can feel dangerous because it makes you a target of those who seek to acquire power. One of the most common tips bestowed upon travelers involves carrying as little currency as possible while away from home, so pervasive is our fear of being hoodwinked out of it when we’re away from familiar places. Moreover, the notion dealing in cash is a risky proposition is on the upswing. Credit and debit cards are now accepted nearly everywhere, and plastic offers formidable protection against being swindled or cheated out of everything you have. That’s generally not the case with cash (which is far less frequently insurable): Even when we’re being cautious, carrying a large sum of currency can feel like wearing a neon “rob me” sign; and were such a circumstance to come to pass, we’d expect to be asked with alacrity why it was necessary to be toting so much money around. Common discomfort over the handling of large sums of money has led to some near-superstitious beliefs about how to do so safely and legally, including a common rumor simply having cash totaling $10,000 or more in your possession is illegal regardless of how you acquired it or what you intend to do with it. A quick online search reveals a number of variations of this belief that are fairly persistent: it’s illegal to carry any amount of cash over $10,000, you are prohibited from flying with sums of that amount, and even “instruments” (such as a check) over the magical $10,000 mark will provoke scrutiny and possible detention by law enforcement agents. No U.S. law specifically prohibits an individual from possessing or carrying $10,000 or more. In fact, it’s not technically illegal to possess sums far larger than that for a wide variety of purposes. (If it were, many small business owners would find running their primarily cash-based businesses impossible.) However, a few factors advance the belief that $10,000 is a threshold of illegality when it comes to money. The most likely suspect is the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act of 1970, also known as the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). Enacted to inhibit money laundering, and utilized by the United States Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the BSA mainly obligates banks (not citizens) to report transactions of more than $10,000:

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“All of it is wrapped the same way they wrap cocaine, the same rubber bands, the same style of wrapping, so when you see that you know where that money’s derived from,” Paulk said.

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Absolutely they do.

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I know a couple of guys that do car buying and they have at least that much on them sometimes. They are classic car restoration guys and they offer cash on the spot. Cash is legal tender and completely ok to have on hand.

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They cannot seize cash with some sort of reasonable suspicion that the cash was somehow the product of or was to be used for narcotics transactions.

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“All of it is wrapped the same way they wrap cocaine, the same rubber bands, the same style of wrapping, so when you see that you know where that money’s derived from,”

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