U.S. Supreme Court Holds Forfeiture of Outbound Passenger Currency Is Excessive

On June 22, 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision held that the forfeiture of $357,144 worth of undeclared currency of a passenger preparing to board an international flight violated the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment, thereby causing the U.S. prosecutors to suffer a setback in the use of forfeiture in combating transnational crime... [more]