United States of America, Najeeb Rahman, Claimant-Appellant v. Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) in United States Currency

Najeeb Rahman seeks relief from a default judgment of forfeiture. The district court, finding that the money in question had already been paid over to the government, held that it had no jurisdiction. We reverse and remand.

BACKGROUND

On May 2, 1984, the United States Customs Service seized $10,000 from Rahman as he was leaving the country on the ground that he had failed to report the sum as required by 31 U.S.C. § 5316 . Rahman filed a petition for relief from forfeiture with the Customs Service, which rejected the petition on June 18, 1985. On October 13, 1985, the government brought a civil forfeiture action against the cash citing both 31 U.S.C. § 5317 and 21 U.S.C. § 881 (forfeiture of drug proceeds).

Although the government maintains that it informed Rahman of this action by letters of October 31, December 2, and December 13, 1985, Rahman asserts he did not receive letter notification “until the latter part of December 1985.” At this time Rahman was incarcerated at Terminal Island. The notification stated that Rahman had until January 2, 1986 to file a claim contesting the forfeiture.

According to Rahman, he retained a New York lawyer, Michael Maloney, who in turn…