Opinion ID: 199265
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Government's Seizure of the $14 Million

Text: 12 Torres-Gonzalez argues that he is entitled to return of the $14 million seized in his father-in-law's house. He says the government should have started forfeiture proceedings against those particular monies, it did not, and now it is barred by the statute of limitations from doing so. The district court's reliance on the forfeiture against the $43 million is misplaced, he says. Those forfeiture proceedings, he argues, cannot be construed so elastically as to authorize forfeiture of all drug monies, whether described in the forfeiture proceeding or not. Indeed, the $14 million has not been linked to the $43 million, he says. The government concedes it put no evidence on the record on this point. 13 He also challenges the government's reliance on his plea agreement, in which he agreed to forfeit . . . any interest he may have in drug or money laundering assets. This agreement, he says, only allows the government to start proceedings for forfeiture for any such property it identifies as drug or money laundering assets, and to follow the normal procedures for such proceedings, such as serving him with process. The government did not do this. As it stands, he says, the plea agreement lacks any more detailed schedule of property the government could take, and, without that, the agreement is insufficient to effect a forfeiture without further proceedings. 14 The government first argues the $14 million was encompassed within its request for a second partial forfeiture decree, forfeiting the $43 million, but it concedes that it never served defendant with those papers, instead serving only the U.S. Attorney. The government contends that this criminal appeal is not the proper vehicle to attack a civil forfeiture; instead, Torres-Gonzalez should have challenged it in a motion to reconsider the Second Partial Order of Forfeiture. The government also advances the alternative theory that in the plea agreement, defendant agreed to surrender all drug proceeds -- that is, that his agreement to forfeit drug proceeds meant that he would give up all drug proceeds, not that the government might institute forfeiture proceedings. 15 The government would be correct on its first theory if that second forfeiture order had plainly involved the $14 million at issue and the government had served that request on defendant. However, the order did not, on its face, apply to the $14 million. It referred only to money in barrels that were buried at defendant's farm, not property elsewhere. No factual basis exists in the record to establish that the $14 million buried in the wall at Vega Baja is traceable to the $43 million allegedly buried in plastic barrels at defendant's farm in Dorado. It is far from clear that the government complied with the formalities of forfeiture procedure. We cannot say there was a clear civil order as to this property from which Torres-Gonzalez was required to appeal. 16 Whether Torres-Gonzalez has any right to complain is a different matter. He does not, for several reasons. His motion for return of property was brought under Rule 41(e), Fed. R. Crim. P. 3 That Rule has an equitable component. See United States v. Giraldo, 45 F.3d 509, 511 (1st Cir. 1995) (motions to return property filed under Rule 41(e) are treated as 'civil equitable proceedings' when criminal proceedings have been completed) (quoting United States v. Martinson, 809 F.2d 1364, 1366-67 (9th Cir. 1987)); Soviero v. United States, 967 F.2d 791, 792-93 (2d Cir. 1992) (noting that request for return of property, whether deemed a Rule 41(e) motion or a separate civil proceeding, is subject to equitable concerns); see also Martinson, 809 F.2d at 1367 (In ruling on the motion, the court must take into account all equitable considerations.). 17 Under these facts, it would be inequitable to order the return of the money to Torres-Gonzalez. In his plea agreement, Torres-Gonzalez agreed to make a full and complete disclosure of all assets over which he exercise[d] control, directly or indirectly. He and his wife disclosed the $14 million and where it was hidden. It is clear that it was drug money, and defendant has not advanced any argument to the contrary. Defendant also agreed to forfeit . . . any interest he had in drug or money laundering assets in his plea agreement. In essence, in this plea agreement he consented to the forfeiture of the $14 million to the government, and surrendered any interest he might have in the property. Cf. United States v. Grover, 119 F.3d 850, 852 (10th Cir. 1997) (holding that defendant could not bring Rule 41(e) motion where he relinquished any possessory interest in the property in forfeiture agreement accompanying plea agreement). Because of defendant's acquiescence, we need not consider whether a further equitable bar would arise because Torres-Gonzalez has been aware of the government's seizure since 1990 and did nothing to challenge it until January 1998. Compare Whiting v. United States, 231 F.3d 70, 75 (1st Cir. 2000). We thus affirm the district court's denial of the Rule 41(e) motion, although on different grounds.