Subject: Re: ExxonMobil Position on Venezuela


That's not really how it works. Forfeiture laws are (generally) tailored to required seized assets to be used in, or result from, the crime. That requires a level of causation that is typically more than just "but/for"

The Michigan law is rather notorious. The net sifter pointed out the amendment that required the person actually be convicted, before their stuff is taken. Prior to that, you only had to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time, so see your car, or the contents of your wallet, seized. Hypothetical: say you were giving a lift to a friend. You had no idea he was a low level weed dealer. You deliver your friend where he wanted to go, the police jump out, collar him, and take your car. You have committed no crime, never even charged, or held on suspicion, but your car is gone. The Michigan law nets millions of dollars per year, and, previously, without that Constitutional thing about "cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law".

Steve