LOS ANGELES — A federal judge ruled Friday that the FBI's seizure of tens of millions of dollars in cash and valuables from 700 safe-deposit boxes in Beverly Hills did not violate anyone's constitutional rights.
The decision by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner endorsed law-enforcement tactics that tested the limits of how aggressive federal agents can be in seizing money and property in the absence of any evidence that the owner committed a crime.
Klausner agreed to dismiss a class-action suit filed on behalf of nearly 400 people who were renting boxes that agents searched at the U.S. Private Vaults store on Olympic Boulevard.
