By Matthew Schwartz
In Omidi v. United States, decided March 13, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the government is not required to provide notice of its seizure of property in “judicial” forfeiture matters, even if no case has actually been filed in court. In that case, the government froze more than $100 million but failed to provide notice to potential claimants, and also did not initiate civil or criminal forfeiture proceedings.
Nearly three years after seizing the funds, at the time of the court of appeals' decision, the government had still not filed a forfeiture action. More