Criminal Defense Lawyers

Got Pulled Over and They Found Cash – DEA Took Everything

Last Updated on: 14th December 2025, 04:53 pm

You were driving down the highway when the lights came on behind you. Maybe you were going a few miles over the limit. Maybe you touched the fog line. The stop seemed routine until the officer started asking questions. Where are you going? Where did you come from? Do you have any large amounts of cash in the vehicle? You answered honestly – or maybe you hesitated – and now everything has changed. They found the cash. They took it. And they let you go without charging you with anything. Here’s the first thing you need to understand: the government just filed a lawsuit against your money. Not against you. Against your cash. And unless you fight back within strict deadlines, that money is gone forever.

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. We handle federal civil asset forfeiture cases regularly, including cases were people lose there entire life savings during traffic stops without ever being charged with a crime. The second thing you need to understand is this: the question isn’t “why did they take my money.” The question is “can I prove were every dollar came from.” Because in civil forfeiture, the burden of proof flips. The government dosent have to prove your money is guilty. You have to prove its innocent. And that proof must come fast.

Heres something that should terrify everyone who carries cash. The DEA seized over $4 billion in cash over a single decade. Of that amount, $3.2 billion was never connected to any criminal charges. Let that sink in. Three point two billion dollars taken from Americans who were never charged with a crime. Your money dosent need to be guilty. It dosent need to be connected to drugs. It just needs to be suspected – and suspicion is enough.

The Deadlines That Can Destroy Your Case

Heres the most important thing to understand right now. There are strict deadlines in civil forfeiture cases, and missing them means losing everything.

After the government seizes your cash, they must send you a notice of seizure within 60 days (or 90 days if local police transferred the case to a federal agency like the DEA). That notice explains what was taken and tells you how to respond. But heres the trap: you have only 35 days from the date of the personal notice letter to file a claim. If you dont receive the letter and the government publishes notice instead, you have just 30 days from publication.

Miss that deadline and your money is automatically forfeited. No court hearing. No opportunity to explain were the cash came from. The government simply keeps it. This is called administrative forfeiture – and its how most seized cash becomes permanent government property.

Think about how easy it is to miss these deadlines. The notice goes to your last known address. Maybe you moved. Maybe the mail got lost. Maybe you were traveling when it arrived. By the time you realize what happened, the window might have already closed. The government counts on people not responding – and most people dont.

Administrative vs Judicial Forfeiture – The Two Tracks

OK so heres something critical about how the forfeiture system works. There are two completely different tracks, and which one applies to your case changes everything.

Administrative forfeiture is what happens if you dont respond. The seizing agency keeps your cash without ever going to court. No judge reviews whether the seizure was proper. No one evaluates the evidence. The government just takes it. This is the default outcome for most cash seizures because most people never file a claim.

Judicial forfeiture is what happens when you fight back. If you file a claim contesting the seizure, the government must file a complaint in federal court within 90 days. Now a judge gets involved. Now you can present evidence. Now you have a chance to prove your money is innocent.

Filing a claim is the only way to force judicial review. Without a claim, there is no court case. The seizure happens administrativly, bureaucraticaly, and permanently. The government prefers administrative forfeiture because its easier – and they win by default.

The irony is that the government’s case is often weak. When people actually fight back in court, they frequently win. But most people never get to court because they dont file claims in time. The system is designed to discourage challengers – and it works.

The Burden of Proof Nightmare

Heres the paradox that makes civil forfeiture so devastating. In criminal court, the government has to prove your guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. In civil forfeiture, YOU have to prove your money is innocent – and the standard for the government is laughably low.

The government only needs a “preponderance of evidence” that your cash is connected to criminal activity. That means more likely then not – just 51%. They dont need proof. They dont need evidence of an actual crime. They just need to convince someone its slightly more probable then not that the money has some criminal connection.

Meanwhile, you have to prove your an “innocent owner.” You have to demonstrate that you had no knowledge of any illegal activity connected to the cash. You have to show were the money came from, why you were carrying it, and that its completly legitimate.

Think about what that means. You could have pay stubs. You could have bank withdrawal receipts. You could have a perfectly innocent reason for carrying cash – going to buy a car, traveling to a cash-only auction, bringing money to a relative. And police can still seize it becuase they “suspect” criminal connection. Then you have to spend months and thousands of dollars proving what should be obvious.

Stephen Lara was a Marine veteran driving through Nevada in 2021. He had nearly $90,000 in his truck – his life savings. He showed officers the bank receipts proving the withdrawals were legitimate. They seized it anyway. The Nevada Highway Patrol exceeded its authority, but it took lawyers and lawsuits to get his money back.

The Highway Interdiction System You Never Knew Existed

Heres something most people dont realize about why this happens. Cash seizures on highways arnt random. Theyre the product of a deliberate, systematic training program that teaches police exactly how to identify and seize cash.

Operation Pipeline was a DEA program launched in 1986 that trained state and local police in “highway interdiction” techniques. The training taught officers what to look for: out-of-state plates, certain travel patterns, specific vehicle types, nervousness during questioning. The goal was finding drugs – but cash is easier to seize and harder to defend.

Today, a “cottage industry” of private police-training firms continues this work. They teach departments across the country how to spot potential drug couriers and seize there cash. The training is profitable for everyone involved except the people who lose there money.

Think about what this means for your case. The officer who stopped you might have attended specialized training in exactly how to conduct cash seizures. The questions they asked – about were your going, what your doing, wheather you have cash – werent random. They were scripted. Designed to create probable cause for a seizure. The entire encounter was engineered to separate you from your money.

The Equitable Sharing Loophole That Makes It Worse

Heres a hidden connection that explains why local police are so aggressive about cash seizures. Theres a federal program called “equitable sharing” that creates a direct financial incentive to take your money.

Many states have reformed there civil forfeiture laws to require criminal convictions before property can be permanently seized. But equitable sharing lets local police bypass those state protections entirely. Heres how it works: local police seize your cash, then “adopt” the case to a federal agency like the DEA. The feds forfeit the money under federal law – which has weaker protections then many states – and then send up to 80% back to the local department.

Your local police might profit directly from seizing your cash. The department that took your money could be using it to buy equipment, fund programs, or supplement there budget. This creates an obvious conflict of interest. Officers arnt just enforcing the law – theyre generating revenue.

And heres the consequence. Even if your state has strong forfeiture protections, federal equitable sharing can erase them. The cop who pulled you over knows this. The department that employs him knows this. The entire system incentivizes aggressive seizures regardless of what state law says.

Cases That Show It Can Be Won

Heres something that should give you hope. People do fight back against civil forfeiture – and people do win.

Phil Parhamovich was a musician from Madison, Wisconsin. He was driving on I-80 near Cheyenne, Wyoming when police seized $91,800 – his entire life savings. Phil was never charged with any crime. But with help from the Institute for Justice, he fought the forfeiture and got every penny back.

Kermit Warren was traveling to buy a truck for his tow truck business when DEA agents seized his life savings. They never charged him with anything. With legal help, Kermit recovered his funds.

Brian Moore had $8,500 seized by DEA agents at the Atlanta airport in 2021. He fought back and won.

The pattern in these cases is clear. People who challenge forfeitures often succeed – especially when they can document were there money came from. But fighting requires legal help, and legal help costs money. Many people abandon claims becuase attorney fees exceed the seized amount. The system is designed to make challenging forfeitures economically irrational for small amounts.

Thats why the deadlines matter so much. Thats why immediate action matters. The sooner you engage an attorney, the stronger your case becomes – and the more likely the government decides its not worth fighting.

The Legal Fiction That Makes This Possible

Heres something about civil forfeiture that most people find impossible to beleive until they experience it. When the government seizes your cash, they dont file a lawsuit against you. They file a lawsuit against your money.

Thats not a metaphor. The actual case caption reads something like “United States v. $91,800 in U.S. Currency.” Your cash is the defendant. Your money is on trial. And becuase your money isnt a person, it dosent have constitutional rights the way you do.

This legal fiction has devastating consequences. In criminal court, you have the right to remain silent. Your money has no such right. In criminal court, the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. For your money, the government just needs preponderance of evidence. In criminal court, you have the right to a free attorney if you cant afford one. When your money is the defendant, you have to pay for legal representation yourself.

The system was designed this way on purpose. By treating forfeiture as a civil action against property rather then a criminal action against a person, the government avoids most constitutional protections. Your cash dosent have a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Your cash dosent have a Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Your cash is just property – and property can be taken.

This is why forfeiture cases seem so unfair. They’re not governed by the same rules as criminal cases. The protections you think you have – the ones you learned about in school, the ones you see on TV – dont apply. Your money is fighting a completely different kind of legal battle then youd face if you were personally charged with a crime.

What Counts as “Connection to Criminal Activity”

Heres the standard the government uses to justify seizing your cash, and why its so easy for them to meet.

The government only needs to show that your money is “substantially connected” to a drug offense or other crime. They dont need to prove the money actualy came from drug sales. They dont need to prove you were involved in drug trafficking. They just need to create an inference of connection.

What creates that inference? Almost anything. Large amounts of cash. Travel on known “drug corridors” like I-80 or I-40. Nervousness during police questioning. Conflicting statements about were your going. Residue on the bills (almost all U.S. currency has trace amounts of drug residue). A “suspicious” reason for having cash. Even lawful behavior can be characterized as suspicious when police want to seize money.

The problem is that none of these things actualy prove anything. Plenty of legitimate people carry large amounts of cash. Plenty of innocent travelers drive on I-80. Plenty of law-abiding citizens get nervous when pulled over by police. But in forfeiture proceedings, the government can pile up these innocent facts and argue they create probable cause.

And heres the cruel reality. Once the government meets that low threshold, the burden shifts to you. Now you have to prove a negative. You have to show your money is NOT connected to crime. Proving a negative is almost always harder then proving a positive – and thats exactly why the system works this way.

The DEA Airport Program That Got Suspended

Heres something that happened in November 2024 that shows how problematic these programs can be. The U.S. Deputy Attorney General suspended the DEA’s Transportation Interdiction Program – the program that was seizing cash from airline passengers at airports across the country.

An internal review found the program was “outdated.” Between 2022 and 2024, DEA agents in the program seized $22 million in suspected drug proceeds. But they only arrested 57 people. The math is devastating: millions seized, almost nobody charged. The program was taking cash from people and letting them walk away – exactly what happened to you.

But heres the irony that should concern you. The airport program was suspended. Highway interdiction continues. The same techniques, the same legal framework, the same burden-shifting that makes civil forfeiture so abusive – all of it still applies to traffic stops. The DEA admitted its airport program was problematic, but the identical program on highways keeps running.

Why Most People Never Get Their Money Back

Heres an uncomfortable truth about civil forfeiture outcomes. Most seized cash stays seized. Not becuase the government proves its case – but becuase people dont fight back.

The system is designed to discourage challenges. The deadlines are short. The legal fees are high. The burden of proof is on you. Many people do the math and decide fighting isnt worth it. If the government seized $5,000 and legal fees will cost $8,000, surrendering makes economic sense – even if you would have won.

The government knows this. They count on it. Thats why they seize small amounts aggressivly. Thats why deadlines are so tight. Thats why the process is so confusing. Every barrier discourages challengers, and every person who gives up is money in the governments pocket.

The irony is that when people do fight back, they often win. Courts have found many seizures improper. Judges have criticized the practice. But none of that helps if you miss your deadline or cant afford an attorney. The system defeats most people before they ever get to court.

What You Should Do Right Now

If law enforcement seized your cash during a traffic stop, heres exactly what you should do:

Document everything you remember about the stop. What questions were you asked? What did you say? What reason did they give for the seizure? What paperwork did they give you? Write it all down while its fresh.

Find any documentation of were the money came from. Bank withdrawal slips. Pay stubs. Tax returns. Evidence of the sale that generated the cash. Records of the purchase you were planning to make. Anything that proves the money is legitimate.

Calculate your deadline immediately. You have 35 days from the personal notice letter, or 30 days from publication. If you havent received a notice yet, monitor carefully. Dont assume the government forgot.

Do NOT wait to see if they return the money. They wont. The forfeiture process moves forward with or without your participation. Silence equals consent. If you dont file a claim, the government keeps your cash.

Hire an attorney who handles civil asset forfeiture. Not a general practice lawyer. Not a traffic attorney. Someone who understands federal forfeiture law, knows the deadlines, and can navigate the judicial process. The Institute for Justice takes some cases pro bono. Other organizations may help. But time is critical.

Do NOT spend money trying to replace what was taken. Dont go into debt. Dont drain other accounts. Focus your resources on fighting the forfeiture – because if you win, you get everything back.

Todd Spodek tells every client facing forfeiture the same thing: the government is counting on you to give up. Theyre counting on you to miss deadlines. Theyre counting on you to decide fighting isnt worth it. Dont let them be right.

Call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196. Before your deadline passes. Before administrative forfeiture becomes permanent. Before your money becomes government property forever.

That traffic stop wasn’t the end of your money. Its the beginning of a fight – but only if you fight back.