Law enforcement agents around the country have been very busy confiscating private property from citizens in the way of cash, real estate, and cars etc. It's referred to as a practice known as civil asset forfeiture and it's allowed the state to confiscate billions from suspects who might never be charged or convicted of any wrongdoing.
One of their victims happened to be a US veteran gas station owner from Maryland.
The gas station owner, Oh Suk Kwon, is from South Korea and after spending several years in the military, as well as working at an electrical plant and as an auto mechanic, he decided to start his very own small business in the way of a gas station back in 2007.
The government doesn't have any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Oh Suk Kwon and his family, yet they stole almost everything that they had regardless. They financially crippled the family, and for what? The only evidence of wrongdoing that they knew for certain was that he had deposited funds into his own account and that was suspicious enough.
Kwon admits that his wife then got diagnosed with cancer and died as a result of the illness, and stress from the battle with the state over what had happened. Kwon packed up in shame and moved away from his home. Since then, the IRS has allegedly updated their policy so as to try and prevent this sort of incident from occurring again in the future when it comes to small businesses. But they still won't give Kwon back his funds. And structuring is still regarded as a federal crime today.
Investigations into the actions of the state in structuring cases have allegedly revealed that over 90 percent of their seizures have targeted lawful citizens where there income has been lawfully obtained.
Kwon says that many years ago he was instructed by the bank that if he were to make deposits larger than $10k that he would need to fill out a decent amount of paperwork. Therefore, the bank allegedly suggested to him that he make smaller deposits into his account. This was the only action he was guilty of, putting his own money into his account but in a way that was deemed “suspicious” by the state. The IRS claims that he plead guilty to structuring, though there are many would say that isn't any sort of crime (who is the victim?).
Kwon says that even if he does get those funds back now years later, the damage has already been done. He has been shamed and had his life ruined, lost his business, his community, and his wife. And there are many others who are also having their lives ruined by unjust policies like structuring and civil asset forfeiture that permit law enforcement to steal without justification; charges and convictions.
Pics:
Pixabay
Sources:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/18/15985810/jeff-sessions-civil-asset-forfeiture
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/29/since-2007-the-dea-has-taken-3-2-billion-in-cash-from-people-not-charged-with-a-crime/?utm_term=.858dccf45fb2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structuring
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2017/04/05/91-of-irs-seizures-for-structuring-involve-lawful-taxpayers/#3ea3cde51235
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/04/05/the-irs-took-millions-from-innocent-people-because-of-how-they-managed-their-bank-accounts-inspector-general-finds/?utm_term=.4d7886333812
https://www.hudsonvalley360.com/article/irs-seized-59000-gas-station-owner-they-still-refuse-give-it-back