By my understanding of the law. the "FBI" can not sell them until DPR is convicted, as if he is proved innocent, they may have to give them back (although i think this is VERY unlikely to happen).
no, legally they dont have to do a criminal forfeiture. they can file for forfeiture civilly without conviction. but that is unlikely to happen.
Dont you just love the law
whatever happened to innocent UNTIL proven guilty......
Forfeiture is a separate action it has its own procedures and its own burden of proof. There is no such thing as innocent until proven guilty that is just a quaint phrase to make people sleep good at night. All you get is due process. However as indicated for a variety of reasons forfeiture almost never happens until long after the criminal trial is complete.
Also to correct your prior post, the coins don't belong to the FBI, they never did belong to the FBI, and they never will belong to the FBI. Prior to forfeiture they belong to the original owner they are just frozen. If the government loses their forfeiture case they return to the original owner, if the government wins the assets becomes the property of the US TREASURY. The DOJ is mandated with selling off forfeited assets as the government simply wants the cash value not the asset.
This isn't anything new or novel. Every year for the past century the DOJ has sold off billions and billions of dollars worth of forfeited assets. Cars, boats, planes, real estate, luxury goods, stocks, bonds, gold, jewelry, etc. Even rare fine art and antiques. Just about anything you can imagine the DOJ has seized and sold it.
