United States v. One 1985 Mercedes-Benz, 300 Sd, Vin Wdbcb20c6fa177831, and Sadrudin Kabani, Claimant-Appellant

I

A person who transports more than $10,-000 into or out of the United States must file a report with the federal government. See 31 U.S.C. § 5316 (1988). The issue is whether a car used to export currency in violation of Section 5316’s reporting requirements may be forfeited under the Espionage Act, 22 U.S.C. § 401 (1988), which provides for the forfeiture of vehicles used in exporting “any arms or munitions of war or other articles in violation of law.”

Sadrudin Kabani drove into Canada with $1,082,100.00 in United States currency in the trunk of his 1985 Mercedes-Benz, 300 SD. He never reported the money as required by Section 5316. When a Canadian customs officer discovered the currency, the United States government seized the Mercedes and charged Kabani with failure to report the export of currency in violation of 31 U.S.C. §§ 5312 , 5316 (1988) and with two counts of money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956 (a)(2) (1988 & Supp. II 1990). Kabani was never convicted of any of these charges. Instead, he entered a guilty plea to the charge of making false statements to customs officials in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001 (1988). The other charges were dismissed.

The…