Shouldn't they claim it BEFORE the forfeiture order is made? They have more than 2 months to make the claim. The court made the forfeiture order because no one claimed the bitcoin. Isn't it too late now?
I am not sure. I am not a laywer (I would image the person in the article obtained counsel).
The govt would not appear to have followed its own procedures:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/983The DOJ should have provided written notice to all parties more than 30 days before the forfeiture and thus provide an opportunity to fiile a claim. If they didn't (and I don't think they did) then that might (no I have no interest in reading those pages of statute) give certain rights for a late claim.
On edit:
(e) Motion To Set Aside Forfeiture.—
(1) Any person entitled to written notice in any nonjudicial civil forfeiture proceeding under a civil forfeiture statute who does not receive such notice may file a motion to set aside a declaration of forfeiture with respect to that person’s interest in the property, which motion shall be granted if—
(A) the Government knew, or reasonably should have known, of the moving party’s interest and failed to take reasonable steps to provide such party with notice; and
(B) the moving party did not know or have reason to know of the seizure within sufficient time to file a timely claim.
So it looks like in some cases, one can file not a claim but an attempt to set aside the forfeiture (and thus allow a claim as it is if the forfeiture never happened).
