Opinion ID: 6982208
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Seizure and forfeiture of the defendant property

Text: On September 16, 1993, a federal grand jury for the Southern District of Ohio returned an indictment against O’Brien alleging fourteen counts of bank fraud under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1344 and 2, four counts of money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1957 and 2, and one forfeiture count under 18 U.S.C. § 982 involving criminal proceeds of $219,569.81 (property other than the real estate involved in this civil forfeiture action). In the criminal case, the United States applied for and was granted a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) by the district court to restrain the property named in the indictment and any substitute assets that would satisfy the $219,569.81 alleged to have been laundered. 1 The TRO was ultimately converted into a Preliminary Injunction by the district court on October 20,1993. Also on September 16, 1993, the United States filed a complaint for civil forfeiture alleging that the defendant property was forfeitable pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 981 because it was property involved in money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956, and in a scheme to defraud banks, in violation of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (“FIRREA”) of 1989, 18 U.S.C. § 1344. The complaint asked the court for an arrest warrant in rem to arrest and seize the property. The same day, the Magistrate Judge ordered the arrest of the property and ordered that notice of the action be given in The Newark Advocate, a newspaper of general circulation in the Southern District of Ohio. Service was effected on the defendant property that day, and on Charles O’Brien on September 17, 1993. On January 23, 1995, O’Brien appeared before the district court and pleaded guilty pursuant to a Plea Agreement. He pleaded guilty again in August 1995 to a Superseding Plea Agreement. Under both agreements he also pleaded guilty to the criminal forfeiture count, which involved property other than the parcel at issue here. In this civil forfeiture case, on June 23 and 26, 1995, the Magistrate Judge held an after-the-fact probable cause hearing regarding the seizure of the defendant property. The Magistrate Judge later issued a Report and Recommendation finding that the United States had demonstrated probable cause to forfeit the defendant property and finding that exigent circumstances warranted seizure of the defendant property prior to notice and hearing. After receiving objections only from O’Brien and not Winterhaven Trust, the district court adopted the Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation. The United States then filed a motion for summary judgment, which the district court granted after receiving responses from neither O’Brien nor Winterhaven Trust.