A carrier in Florida sent an employee to Cleveland to buy four trucks using cash. The employee never even made it to his plane. The money had been seized by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) after a screening at a security checkpoint. Now the carrier is suing the federal government saying, “something is fishy here.”
FGL Transport, a Tampa-based trucking company with only 24 trucks, was looking to buy some more. Owners Scott Smith and Michael Rozenberg sent Rozenberg’s son-in-law, Boris Nulman, to Cleveland to purchase trucks from an independent owner. They gave him a plane ticket, $191,500 in cash, and sent him to the airport.
Nulman kept the cash in carry-on bags, and when it went through the TSA scanner, agents pulled him aside. After questioning him for 45 minutes, the TSA agents sent him to the police station in the airport. There, all of the cash save $10,000 was confiscated from him. In exchange he got a receipt which read “MONEY CONTAINED IN 2 BAGS. ESTIMATED VALUE IS $181,500.”
The next day his company hired a lawyer and filed paperwork to try and get the money back.
“This is legitimate money,” Rozenberg told the Tampa Bay Times. “There is nothing dirty about this. We have evidence to show we took this out of our business account. Something is fishy here.”
A few weeks later, when they got a reply from Customs and Border Protection, the $181,500 had somehow turned into $159,950. And that money was going to be seized because they claimed it was the proceeds of unlawful activities having to do with illegal drugs.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, FGL was planning on using the cash to purchase the trucks from an owner-operator. They had to pay in cash because the seller didn’t want a bank wire or cashier’s check because of the risk of fraud.
FGL is now suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and individual officials within each agency.
Source: freightbrokerlive, heraldextra, wnky, tampabay
Just another government agency robbing innocent people. Nothing new here.
Agree
👍🏻
They are there for a reason…
The government don’t steal from hard working Americans no no no.They rob you blind and then bend you over and say welcome to America
They have all the proof that the funds were withdrawn from their business account, so this shouldn’t be an issue in the end.
What I have issue with is they let them through with $10,000 of the 191,500 which is proof the money was not held as drug proceeds because they would have held ALL OF IT, had it been deemed illicit.
Only after some $30,000 of the remaining 181,500 was stolen by their agents did they all of a sudden decide they are keeping it. It’s a cover up for internal theft.
Go get your money and smash the case of theft wide open.
Proof or not, it’s going to cost this company thousands in legal fees to get their cash back. The government is not going to says “oops, sorry” and just hand it back.
We got stopped for 5 boxes of candy. They looked through each box. They were in the boxes from the store. Only found candy, but wasted our small amount of time to get to our connection
The company should of done a wire transfer to a bank in Cleveland and then the guy could of picked it up at the bank and go do his business. Simple fix.
Do agree there is a lot of theft from government agencies.
Whoops. Damn typo. Some *$20,000 – you mods need to let us edit..
I don’t blame the government, I blame the American people for allowing this to happen, is your money and you should be able to spend it anyway you like, the government has no business in that.
Its against the law to carry more than 10,000 cash , that being said its a stupid law and they are definitely trying to steal his money.
Actually it is not against the law. However, you must declare anything over $10,000.00
Only when you are leaving the country you have to declare. You dont have to declare anything going state to state.
Last I checked, the only thing the law had to say about carrying sums larger than $10k onto a plane is that you need to declare it. 100% agree on the theft/internal cover up angle, though
You only have to declare 10k or more in cash if you are traveling internationally.
exactly!
I think 10K is for international flights/crossing the border. I’ve never heard of any requirements for domestic flights.
MGE, you are correct.
thats only flying internationally, lol.
That applies for taking funds out of the country
Only when leaving the USA not domestic
Yes correct
No it is not. You simply have to declare over 10k, and that only applies to international flights anyway.
You can carry as much as you want. The 10,000 limit applies to taking money out of the country
No it isn’t. You can carry all the cash you want long as it is yours. Problem is some UNCONSTITUTIONAL gov.alaphbet soup agency will snatch it.
It is not against the law to carry more than 10,,000. It is against the law not to declare it. It is to prevent money from drugs etc
To be distributed. If they declare it and have reasonable proof what it’s for…no problems at all
I’m sure we are only getting one side of the story here.
I wish I had $10,000 😩
It’s not a against the law to carry cash threw a airport. You just have to the proper documentation that’s its lawfully yours like recent bank withdrawal stub. An they will get there money back in full. But there is a law where they can pretty much take large sum of cash for anyone an claim it’s illegal proceeds. They do it all the time to law abiding citizens. A legal way to rob you from what’s rightful yours.
Damb, and its rye truckers who have to be drug tested.obviously this is a money grab, by some members of the TSA. But the fact that a legitimate business owner has to go thru all of this nonsense just to live and do business in America. Have hire lawyers, missed the sell, unneeded delays and stress on innocent people, SMDH!!
This is classic policing for profit. Civil asset forfeiture allows police to take any money they find on you and call it criminal proceeds. They bank on you to not have the ability to fight a lengthy expensive court case to get your money back. In 6 months to a year they will probably off the company 60k back to settle the case. And the company will take it because they will have spent 100k+ on lawyers
Who carries 190k in a briefcase thru the airport. Cmon man that is ignorant. Ever hear of a wire transfer?? Something wrong with this story
Reread the article. The seller would only take cash because of the possibility of fraud. That said, there are plenty of trucks around Tampa so I don’t know why they sent him with all of that cash, but I have a theory.
Ever learn to read before you shoot your mouth off
The buyer requested cash payment because he does not do wire transfers.
Perhaps you would be happier in China
I sometimes work for a truck dealer that buys used trucks from companies and it’s always done by wire transfer bank to bank, and it’s always done a couple of days before we pick them up so that the trucking company is sure that everything’s on the up and up which it always is .
Agreed it wasn’t a smart thing to do but it shouldn’t be illegal and the Government doesn’t have the right to seize property. This is a case of guilty until proven innocent. The war on drugs has created a set of unconstitutional laws to give the government power to steal and remove the presumption of innocence.
Isn’t this a violation of the 4th ? Amendment ? What’s next ? They going to seize our legally purchased guns ? Oh wait … They already are trying to do that . Screw that’s turn in nothing 😡 Buy even more of them 👍🏻🇺🇸
TSA are not law enforcement officers, they are security personnel for the safe operations of the airline. They will get the money back but lose the fees to fight in court. Owner/operators selling their trucks don’t want to be scammed anymore.
We are being scammed every which way every day now.
Umm that much cash WHY would you try and fly knowing it would be discovered, and as for the owner selling the trucks my exboss bought several trucks like that , he always sent a cashier’s check to the persons financial bank, when i cleared transactions was then completed, sounds more fishy on the cash part if it..
I agree something is fishy. Sounds like a tax dodge to me. Otherwise bank transfer and wait for the money to clear then release the trucks to the buyer.
Still doesn’t make sense what the TSA is doing though.
Because its their money! They should be able to fly, set it on fire, convert it into coins fill a pool jump in and break all their bones… whatever they want.
TSA doesn’t confiscate anything. Article is fake. TSA doesn’t have any power. They only screen people and their items.
You’re very wrong, TSA seizes money all the time under the guise of helping the DEA.https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/the-dea-seized-her-fathers-life-savings-at-an-airport-without-alleging-any-crime-occurred-lawsuit-says/2020/01/15/1d9986e6-36e6-11ea-bb7b-265f4554af6d_story.html
” Next time drive ! “
If the person drove and was pulled over for a traffic violation, the money could STILL be seized. Google “civil forfeiture” and what is going on in this country – it will turn your stomach. 😡
Look what South carolina does to the people.
Dan Alban, a Lawyer at the non profit Institute for Justice, who specalizes in this kind of BS is aware of and trying to get involved in this case…they are tough cases, the government has been doing this (civil asset forefiture) to inner city (minorities) for a long long time.
more unlawful civil forfeiture.
This information is incorrect…..TSA DOES NOT HAVE ANY AUTHORITY TO CONFISCATE MONEY. IT IS NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO EVEN REPORT A PERSON TRAVELING WITH CASH WITHIN THE UNITED STATES. Please know the facts before blasting TSA. It was CUSTOMS BORDER PATROL CBP
As a trucker, working for truckers, they should have known that ALL law enforcement is the Blue Mafia.
Everyone with a badge amd a gun is a criminal.
They are all theives and extortionists.
Owner buying the trucks should of gave his son in law a check for $190,000 and went to their bank where the trucks were located and cash the check there. Or prior arrangements could of been made at the sellers bank also.
Somebody wasn’t thinking.
NKJ Dear Mr. Michael Gary, I had a cdl for a long time transporting inmates
caring a badge and gun. Some of my fellow employees were corrupt but you
let your ignorance show. As a retired officer I take great offense to your statement. There are honest and corrupt people if every profession. I don’t know who you work for, but I would not want to work with you. I could say all truck drivers are idiots. Would that make it true. You sound like some of our politicians,
Carry $100,000 cash through TSA ? ?? Anybody else think this is totally insane ? How’s about a wire transfer , a cashiers check , or going to a local branch of the bank when you get to your destination ???? Seriously , somebody wasn’t using common sense here . …..
Ueah but your suppose to declare all money after certain amount regardless of international ot domestic
I believe you are mistaken. As far as I can tell, the only requirement when carrying currency is on international flights where you are required to declare currency of over $10,000 and fill out a FinCEN 105 form. They may ask you about the money, even if you aren’t required to declare it, but they aren’t supposed to steal it.
But then again, there have always been bands of armed thugs who steal from travelers.
This is why the world needs cryptocurrency. Bitcoin and Monero will be the new way of paying for goods and services. It’s not the bloods or crips but the government that has become the biggest gang of criminals and manipulators.
Why not just arrange to have the cash withdrawn from a local bank?
Traveling with that much cash always rings bells and sends up red flags.
Something fishy going on?!
Next time give me the money . I’ll deliver it for you . I promise . 😉
I hope this trucking company wins the lawsuit get the money back PLUS interest that will teach them a lesson
Trucking company should be more professional dealing with transactions like this, did they heard of banks transferring funds or wire transfer funds , travelers carrying cash in 6 figures is considered suspicious now days . Something fishy going on is on trucking company .
Next time use bitcoin.
You can get arrested for that too, because the government doesn’t like how hard that makes it to steal your money
True, but dont forget that the “bunch of pussies and a holes” who hired them is us. We bitch about it and then keep electing and re-electing the idiots who are responsible for these policies. They don’t hear our whining, they see our votes.
Not true! Some of them are hardworking, good ppl just like at every other company in the world!
This happens everyday across the country, mostly at traffic stops. Average take is $3,000 and it costs more than that to fight to get your money back. It’s a sham and the agency that confiscates it gets to keep most of it. You’ll notice in I40 outside Memphis the police are always on the westbound side. That’s not by accident. Drugs go east and the money goes west. They’re not interested in the drugs…
Not like they could have sent him there to buy the trucks after arranging with the company bank at the destination to give the employee the cash. They now have to sue for 100% of it back PLUS LAWYERS FEES. They’re thieves! Plain & clear.
He should of driven there. What were these people thinking?
If you are ignorant enough to put a man on a commercial flight with close to $200k then you need a reality check like this, not that it’s right what the TSA did but it’s far more ignorant to send someone with that amount of cash in a commercial flight, you should have hired a private plane to take him and avoided the hassles
Really. Get to your destination. Wire transfer to the transaction bank where you are buying the trucks. See the equipment, then if you want cash deal..
Well then do cash. Don’t even get near TSA or Homeland.
Apparently they know nothing about Patriot Act either.
You could be a terrorist, carrying cash like that. Last scenario, drive it there!