Published on: Saturday, June 28, 2025
Utah man pleads guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and agrees to criminally forfeit a lot of land. Uh oh! It's not his land, but rather is owned by a friend and former employee—though it was partially paid off with tainted money from the criminal enterprise. Tenth Circuit (over a dissent): The gov't may have had other ways to get at tainted proceeds, but taking land that was always owned by a third party isn't one of them.
The case is United States v. Peck et. al, 23-4000 (10th Cir. June 10, 2025).