International Man: Recently, the FBI raided 700 safe deposit boxes in Beverly Hills.
They opened and searched through the content of every single box, regardless of whether there was any probable cause that individual box owners had committed any crime.
The FBI then attempted to confiscate anything worth more than $5,000 through civil asset forfeiture proceedings. Again, this was regardless of whether there was any evidence of wrongdoing by the individual box owners.
What do you make of this story?
Doug Casey: This is another of many indications that the FBI is totally corrupt and out of control. There’s no indication the agent-in-charge was even reprimanded, much less fired. It’s just one agency, but the fifteen other Praetorian agencies are no better.
An even bigger problem is that the rule of law itself is dead. At this point, almost any federal agency can do whatever they want. If you don’t like it and want to fight them, it’s going to cost a ton of legal fees.
The federal government is now controlled by actual Jacobins. They’re inclined to engage in lawfare against citizens—especially those who don’t share their views.
What’s in it for them? When they perform a civil asset forfeiture, a certain percentage goes to the agency that does it.
That money can buy cop toys and training to pad their resumes. That gives them a personal incentive to do things that are, in fact, criminal. It’s a very serious matter. It’s only going to get worse when CBDCs are initiated—they’ll make civil asset forfeitures, fines, and asset freezes much easier when all your money is visible and available at the central bank. It’s one more reason to own gold—but not store it in a US safe deposit box.
International Man: A federal appeals court recently found that the FBI violated the Fourth Amendment with their actions.
While this is good news, the individual box owners invested considerable time and money in uncertain legal actions to get their property returned to them. It seems there will be no consequences for the FBI agents who flagrantly violated the individual box owners’ Constitutional rights.
It sends the message that the government can engage in gross violation of rights with near impunity. The only consequence is that the courts might reverse their actions years later. No government agents will be punished for violating the law. Such a standard does not apply to regular citizens, of course.
What’s your take?
Doug Casey: Individual agents are a protected class. It’s extremely hard and very expensive to prosecute them as individuals. Remember that the first loyalty of agents is to each other, and the second is to their employer. The public, who they’re supposed to “protect and serve,” is in third place.
Federal law enforcement agencies have become much more aggressive over the years and increasingly recruit and retain the kind of people who fit in that culture. They have every incentive to continue and no incentive to change course.
What about the Constitution? Isn’t it supposed to protect us? Yes, in theory. But it’s simultaneously a dead letter and a “living document” that can be altered to suit. It’s so selectively enforced and has been so grotesquely reinterpreted that it basically doesn’t mean anything anymore. There’s an occasional victory, but the trend has been downhill for many years. The next major crisis will allow lots of emergency measures to further subvert it. The type of people who are attracted to the US government never let a good crisis go to waste.
International Man: Civil asset forfeiture lets the government seize your property under the flimsiest pretexts.
As political risk continues to rise in the US and other countries, what does this mean for people with wealth and property within reach of an increasingly bankrupt and aggressive government?
Doug Casey: Financial and economic risks in the US are huge and growing rapidly. But political risk is much greater than either of them. Political risk is about laws or taxes that threaten your freedom and your wealth.
The only way to defend against political risk is to diversify politically and geographically. You must internationalize. That means all of your money and assets should never be just in one country. And absolutely not your home political jurisdiction because your government considers both you and your property to be its property.
You should diversify into at least two other political jurisdictions in case something goes wrong at home. In other words, you should have a backup system and a backup to your backup. It’s a lesson that the citizens of scores of countries didn’t learn until it was too late. The Russians in 1917. The Germans in 1933. The Cubans in 1959. The Vietnamese in 1975. The Rhodesians in 1979. The Venezuelans and Ukrainians today. Those are only a few of many examples.
Most Western countries are heading in the wrong direction. You should diversify now while it’s still possible.
International Man: What are your thoughts on safe deposit boxes and vaults in foreign countries?
Doug Casey: First, let me say a word about gold. You should have a meaningful part of your net wealth in gold because it’s the only financial asset that’s not simultaneously someone else’s liability. I’m talking about physical gold, not paper gold, futures, gold stocks, or the like.
But where should you keep it? You can bury it or hide it in a substantial safe, of course. But a safe deposit box with your local bank has traditionally been the best answer. Unfortunately, in these days of high political risk, that’s no longer the case. Furthermore, the riskiest place for a safe deposit box is in your home country. It’s easily accessible to your government, and they consider you and your property national assets.
Your primary safe deposit box—the one with most of your gold—should be outside of your home country. At this point, a number of countries are safer than the US or Canada. In the Orient, Singapore is a good choice. In Latin America, Uruguay is probably the best choice. In Europe, probably Switzerland—except that option is only open to those dealing with at least the mid-seven figures. All things considered, I think the Cayman Islands, in the Caribbean, are probably the best choice.
Do you have to fear a foreign government? The answer, surprisingly to most, is much less your own government. With a few exceptions, the assets of foreign citizens everywhere are actually safer than those of nationals. That’s because you’re considered to be the property of another foreign government. And governments usually, believe it or not, show a type of professional courtesy to each other.
Let me re-emphasize that now is perhaps the 11th hour to diversify your assets abroad. Foreign exchange controls are looming in many countries, especially in the United States, which is running massive foreign trade and balance of payments deficits. To stop the hemorrhaging, governments typically put restrictions on private citizens transferring substantial amounts of money or making investments abroad.
You’ll be told that you should all keep it within the country. If you’re going to do it, do it now.
International Man: Given what we’ve discussed, how do you recommend people take action to protect themselves and their wealth?
Doug Casey: If you’re in a position to do so—and if you’re not in a position to do so, get yourself in a position to do so—you should have a foreign residence. They can’t make you repatriate that.
In addition, acquire a meaningful amount of gold abroad. It’s best to keep it in a foreign safe deposit box because that doesn’t violate any US laws—at least at present. Equally important, there are currently no US reporting requirements. It’s generally almost impossible for an American to open a bank or a brokerage account in a foreign country today. A safe deposit box is one of the best ways, and one of the few remaining private ways, to keep some assets abroad.
A safe deposit box filled with legally non-reportable gold and silver is a great insurance policy.
Editor’s Note: We think everyone should own some physical gold. Gold is the ultimate form of wealth insurance. It’s preserved wealth through every kind of crisis imaginable. It will preserve wealth during the next crisis, too.
The coming economic and political crisis is going to be much worse, much longer, and very different than what we’ve seen in the past.
That’s exactly why New York Times best-selling author Doug Casey and his team just released an urgent video. Click here to watch it now.
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How on earth can “civil asset forfeiture” even be a thing in this country with its 5th amendment?
“No person shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or PROPERTY without due process of law”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
They’re not so big on honoring the amendments, especially the 4th and 5th (don’t much like the 1st and 2nd either).
Laws only apply to certain people anymore, and none seem to apply to them.
3rd has been abused by the surveillance technology of always listening home internet devices like TVs and Echo/Alexa assistants via the warrant free keyword fishing by our wardens (digital and otherwise).
Patriot act. Gave them the right to trump all that.
The very simplest answer is accurate, but is something that we have been trained since childhood to discount.
The answer? The US Constitution is a dead letter. No matter how much of a good idea it is, no matter how true it might have been in the past, it is not in force now.
Nine out of ten readers will read these sentences, maybe even nod their head in agreement, but by the time they get to the next comment, they will already have reverted to their childhood faith in a piece of paper. We are like battered wives who simply CANNOT realize that we are being played for chumps.
If you don’t use it you lose it.
Good morning! Would you like some crystal meth with that coffee to get you jump started today?
It’s legal ⚖ fiction.
TSA and DEA are shaking people down at airports, stealing all of their money. The real fun is both say the victim is guilty and it’s up to them to prove innocence to get their money back.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/in-plane-sight-drug-agents-searching-passengers-for-cash-at-airport-gates/ar-AA1iwnaY
And local Banks
Looks like all you Drug Warriors got What You Wanted, and hard. “Anything you give the State the power to do For you, you give it the power to do To you” Albert Jay Nock .
Yep, been on this for over 40 years, rallying against the drug wars, and asset forfeiture, right out of highschool.
State laws for Civil Asset Forfeiture vary by jurisdiction but they can hardly exceed the throat throttling capabilities of the federal statute, which allows .gov to take everything and make you prove they violated your rights to get it back. Good luck with that.
18 U.S. Code § 981 – Civil Forfeiture
(1) The following property is subject to forfeiture to the United States:
(A) Any property, real or personal, involved in a transaction or attempted transaction in violation of section 1956, 1957 or 1960 of this title, or any property traceable to such property.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/981
Your house, with all its furniture and appliances, cars, boats, planes, bank accounts, investments – everything, until you are financially naked.
It’s a law that, used appropriately, would defenestrate the Deep State’s swamp critters. They would all go to jail for treason and/or terrorism.while every dime they owned would help balance the federal budget.
But this statute was clearly intended only for those without the means or time to prove their cash is legitimate in court. It’s beyond generous 4th Amendment carve-outs for warrantless search make ‘probable cause’ the punchline of every traffic stop. The only ‘probable cause’ involved is that it’ll probably cause somebody to go bankrupt.
Cops prey on cash businesses and people who make a habit of paying cash for anything, They know who you are.
Be polite when you film the cop, saying “I do NOT consent to this search.” And then STFU.
So Doug doesn’t recommend paper gold
But you get a piece of paper that says you
Own gold in a foreign country’s private vault
OK …Thanks Doug
I think he did a good job of explaining his reasoning: “With a few exceptions, the assets of foreign citizens everywhere are actually safer than those of nationals.”
>>>But you get a piece of paper that says you
Own gold in a foreign country’s private vault
If you buy physical gold abroad, some entity stores it for you, and issues you a receipt, you have almost certainly in the eyes of the IRS established a foreign “financial account”, fully reportable on your tax return.
If you buy physical gold abroad, lock it in rental box/vault and keep the key yourself, no “financial account” has been established, and the asset is legally non-reportable.
I’m sorry. “Legal fees”? You and I fight VERY differently! My way? The lawyers don’t show up until after the funerals.
I like the way you think. yes indeed
I’m too old for this fuckin’ shit! And I just don’t CARE any more. Whoever gets in my face next pays for ALL the motherfuckers who came before PLUS for their own offense!
It will NOT be pretty.
A reckoning is due…and I got a 50 gallon drum of whup-ass on tap!
“GET OFF MY FUCKING LAWN!!” Lol!
And good luck suing a corpse!
Squarely in the category of “NOT MY PROBLEM”.
Agreed
Doug didn’t mention but I think that the Caymans now tax imported gold so that’s probably a jurisdiction in which one would not want to store gold – unless one already has it there.
This is part of his wider strategy / advise on diversification of self. Having gold stored in a foreign vault makes a lot more sense if you are setting up an alternate jurisdiction for yourself, where you would presumably have a place to live as well, or an additional passport. The Feds have confiscated gold before, and will again when they get desperate.
A younger and naive self thought Hannibal Lecter was the bad guy and the FBI agents were the good guys, ha.
Constitution? Don’t make me laugh. The only thing that will control the Cheka is for them to fear us.
Junk silver will serve you better. If someone offers me gold for chicken eggs I couldn’t make change. (or they get very expensive eggs) The average person has less than five hundred dollars in the bank.
“Bank” is the first problem. Keep your cash. If you have to use a card, get a pre-paid debit like Netspend from Walmart. That money you put in a bank is not yours. You have just loaned it to the bank. And if a run happens, FDIC doesn’t move fast enough for you to eat.
This is no longer a two-tiered justice system..It is a multi, multi-tiered system where wealth, skin color, nationality, religious and political affiliations determine “justice.” No justice for Whites! – only for POS POC .
How we burned in the camps…ya know, everybody lives somewhere.
YIKES!!! DOESN’T ANYONE REMEMBER “WHERE” SO-CALLED “LAW-ENFORCEMENT” ORIGINATED FROM…GANGS OF CRIMINALS…NOW KNOWN AS “ORGANIZED CRIME/ MAFIA’S…ITALIAN/ASIAN/RUSSIAN/LATIN???
NOTE: NO BLACK MAFIA’S EXIST….ONLY THE “COONS & NIGGERS”….THE “NEGA’S” WILL RETURN THOUGH!
THEN “TRUTH” WILL RETURN…FOREVER!
Fuck the fuck off. It has been decades or more that the US government has explicitly made known that it makes its own laws and enforced only the laws it chooses on whom it chooses to enforce it upon. We do not have a legitimate government, so just fuck the fuck off with your bullshit narrative, you fucking cunt.
“An even bigger problem is that the rule of law itself is dead. At this point, almost any federal agency can do whatever they want. If you don’t like it and want to fight them, it’s going to cost a ton of legal fees.”
If the rule of law is dead, why go to court if they sue?
The spoils of war…just be glad your wife or daughters weren’t in the vicinity…
IF I had but one wish, here is how I would waste it…
I wish the FBI were completely dismantled from the field offices up to the Attorney General, with every employee being CUT OFF from Government funds forever. No fucking retirement. No golden parachutes, Just handcuffs and body cavity searches for ALL of them. And prison for the survivors for life.
Inshallah.
Sholom.
Amen.