United States v. $814,254.76, in U.S. Currency, Contents of Valley National Bank Account No. 1500-8339, Banamex, Claimant-Appellant

This case arises out of a civil forfeiture of funds in an account owned by appellant Ban-co Nacional de Mexico (“Banamex”). The contents of the account were seized as funds connected to illegal money laundering, pursuant to the civil forfeiture statute, 18 U.S.C. § 981 . The district court entered judgment in favor of the Government after trial. The parties agree that the forfeiture can only be upheld through the retrospective application of 18 U.S.C. § 984 , which was passed in October of 1992 as part of the Annunzio-Wylie Anti-Money-Laundering Act of 1992, Pub.L. No. 102-550, Title XV, § 1522(a), 106 Stat. 3672 , 4063 (1992). All the acts relevant to this case occurred before that date. We hold that § 984 does not apply retrospectively and, therefore, reverse.

I

The parties stipulated to the following facts. In July, 1990, undercover U.S. Customs Agents approached Telesforo Tellez about laundering funds the ¿gents represented to be drug money. Over the next two years, with the knowing assistance of at least one Banamex employee, Tellez laundered about $5.75 million by making deposits into his personal account at the Banco Nacional de Mexico in Nogales, Mexico and then writing…