Opinion ID: 760527
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defenses to Forfeiture

Text: 17 Once the government has shown probable cause to support forfeiture, the burden shifts to the claimant to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant property is not subject to forfeiture. 874 Gartel Drive, 79 F.3d at 923. 18 Ladum contends that she is protected by the statutory innocent owner defense, which provides that [n]o property shall be forfeited ... to the extent of the interest of an owner ... by reason of any act or omission established by that owner ... to have been committed without the knowledge of that owner.... 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(2). Ladum insists that she had no knowledge of the falsity of the statements in her application, as she reasonably relied on her nephew, Clayton, and her real estate broker to arrange the loan and then signed papers at the closing without reading them. She relies on the notion that few homeowners ever actually read the closing documents before signing them. 19 The innocent owner defense does not apply, however, where the owner was willfully blind to false statements made in a loan application. See 874 Gartel Drive, 79 F.3d at 924. Ladum admitted in her deposition that, upon signing the previously unsigned tax returns at closing, she noticed that these returns listed Meegan as the preparer and she knew that someone other than Meegan had prepared her tax returns for 1990, 1991, and 1992. Thus, the district court did not err in concluding that the uncontroverted evidence showed that Ladum was willfully blind to the falsity of the tax returns she submitted and signed in connection with the loan application.