FBI sued after allegedly losing hundreds of thousands in rare coins during raid
Fox News
Don Mellein and Jeni Pearsons are suing the government alleging the FBI seized, then lost their property through the "shady" process of civil forfeiture.
"We don't know if they lost it. We don't know if somebody pocketed it and walked away," he continued. "We have no way to know." Teny Sahakian is an Associate Producer/Writer for Fox News. Follow Teny on Twitter at @tenysahakian.
The Institute for Justice filed two lawsuits Friday on behalf of clients who had property seized from their safety deposit boxes in a March 2021 FBI raid on U.S. Private Vaults, a Beverly Hills–based company. After prevailing in court, and the FBI agreeing to return their property, both Don Mellein and Jeni Pearsons discovered some of their property was missing and suspect the FBI's haphazard raid or sticky fingers are to blame.
"There’s literally been no explanation," Pearsons said. "I think you have to assume that it's the simplest explanation, and I think, unfortunately, the simplest explanation is they took it or lost it."