Faux fixes: justice reform.

• Author: Krayewski, Ed
• Position: Citings - Forfeiture of company finances - Brief article

Two and a half years after raiding their bank account and seizing $446,000, the federal government agreed to return that money to Bi-County Distributors Inc., a small candy and snack distributor in Long Island owned by two brothers, Richard and Mitch Hirsch. The settlement was signed off on by Loretta Lynch, the U.S. attorney for eastern New York, shortly after her nomination to the post of attorney general by President Obama and three months after the public interest law firm the Institute for Justice took on the case.

The feds seized the company's money under laws that prohibit purposefully breaking down cash deposits to avoid reporting requirements that kick in at $10,000. As small business owners, the Hirsch brothers made frequent deposits to the company's account.

At her confirmation hearing, Lynch insisted "civil and criminal forfeiture are very important tools" and that forfeitures are "done pursuant to supervision by a court, it is done pursuant to court order, and I believe the protections...