Feds seize $158,146 at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport, now man wants it back

Covington, Ky– Tiffany Konwiczka Fleming, Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, filed suit in federal court Monday to permanently seize $158,146 cash that belongs to a Kentucky man. The cash was seized as the man boarded a flight from Cincinnati to Los Angeles on May 4, 2022.

A DEA agent stated in a sworn affidavit that the man consented to a search of his phone and they found evidence of drug trafficking. The cash was seized, but no charges appear to have ever been filed against the man. On or about July 21, 2022, the man filed a claim in the DEA’s administrative forfeiture proceeding to the $158,146 seized from him. A court will now decide whether or not he gets it back.