United States v. $405,089.23 U.S. Currency, Charles Arlt James Wren Payback Mines, Claimants-Appellants

REINHARDT, Circuit Judge:

This case involves the constitutional limits on the government’s ability to seek criminal penalties and civil forfeiture based on the same violations of law. The government brought a criminal prosecution against the claimants at approximately the same time as it instituted this separate and parallel civil forfeiture action under 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(A) and 21 U.S.C. § 881(a)(6). The question is whether the government violated the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment by obtaining convictions in the criminal case and then continuing to pursue the forfeiture…