United States v. $46,588.00 in U.S. Currency
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Leavy, J.
Juliana Miriam Steernberg (“Steernberg”) appeals a summary judgment forfeiting currency to the United States. The U.S. Border Patrol seized the currency from Steernberg and handed it over to the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”). The DEA replaced the currency with a cashier’s check, and delivered the check to the U.S. Marshal who deposited it in the Seized Asset Deposit Fund. The government then filed this judicial forfeiture action. The question to be decided is whether the substitution of the cashier’s check for the currency by a DEA agent before delivery to the Marshal prevented the district court from gaining in rem jurisdiction. We have jurisdiction under 28 *903 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we hold that the district court had in rem jurisdiction. We affirm.
FACTS
On April 8, 1992, U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested Steernberg, a Canadian citizen, for drug and currency violations while she was waiting outside the terminal at the Bellingham, Washington, airport. The agents seized $46,588 in U.S. currency and $20 in Canadian currency from Steernberg, who had entered the United States that morning and had not filed a report declaring the currency as required by 31 U.S.C. § 5316 .