Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our goal is to give you the reality of airport cash seizures at Washington Dulles International Airport - not the sanitized version that government agencies present, not the generic legal information other websites offer, but the actual truth about what happens when CBP officers take your money. Most people assume their cash was seized because they broke some law. That assumption is wrong. In 91% of airport cash seizures, no criminal charges are ever filed against the traveler. Your money was declared guilty before you ever had a chance to defend yourself.
This is the part that shocks every client who walks through our doors. The American legal system operates on "innocent until proven guilty" - but that principle stops at the jetway. When Customs and Border Protection seizes your cash at Dulles, your money is presumed guilty. The burden flips entirely. YOU must prove your cash is innocent. And if you dont act within 30 days? The government keeps every dollar through whats called administrative forfeiture, and no judge ever reviews whether they had any right to take it in the first place.
Heres the thing. Dulles Airport is one of the most active cash seizure locations in the country. In August 2024 alone, CBP officers at Dulles seized $90,535 from five separate travelers. The agency issued press releases celebrating these seizures. They mentioned their currency detector dog, a four-year-old yellow labrador named Fuzz, who helped locate money in three of those cases. What the press release didnt mention? None of those five travelers were criminally charged with anything. Zero arrests. Zero indictments. Just five people who lost their cash to the federal government.
Why Your Cash Was Guilty Before You Landed
OK so heres were most people get this completely backwards. You think the seizure happened because you did something wrong. Maybe you carried more then $10,000 without filing the right paperwork. Maybe the drug dog alerted on your bag. Maybe you said something suspicious to the officer. You replay that moment at the checkpoint over and over, trying to figure out what mistake you made.
But the system doesnt work like you think it does. Civil asset forfeiture allows the government to take property - including cash - based on nothing more then suspicion. Not proof. Not evidence that would hold up in court. Just suspicion. And once they seize it, the legal burden shifts completley to you. Your money becomes the defendant in a civil case. Literaly. The case caption reads something like "United States v. $47,000 in U.S. Currency."
Think about that for a second. Your cash is the defendant. Not you. And because its a civil proceeding, not a criminal one, all the constitutional protections you thought you had simply dont apply. No right to a speedy trial. No right to an attorney if you cant afford one. No presumption of innocence. The government operates under a preponderance of evidence standard - meaning they only need to show its "more likely then not" that your money was connected to some crime. Any crime. Even crimes you were never charged with.
Let that sink in.
A Department of Justice Office of Inspector General report found that over a ten year period, the DEA seized more then $4 billion in cash from travelers. Of that amount, $3.2 billion - thats 80% - was never connected to any criminal charges whatsoever. Billions of dollars taken from Americans who were never accused of breaking any law. Dulles International Airport is part of this machinery, and its been operating for decades.
The 30-Day Deadline That Destroys Your Chances
This is the most critical thing you need to understand right now: you have 30 days from the date on your seizure notice to file a claim contesting the forfeiture. Miss that deadline and your money is gone forever through administrative forfeiture. No hearing. No judge. No appeal. Just gone.
Heres were it gets even more frustrating. The notice CBP gives you is designed to confuse. Its bureaucratic language wrapped in legal jargon. Most people read it, dont fully understand there options, set it aside meaning to deal with it later, and then realize too late that the 30 days has passed. This isnt an accident. The system is structured so that people who dont immedialty respond lose by default.
The statistics prove this. Nearly 93% of civil forfeiture cases involving currency seized at airports are processed without any judicial oversight. Ninety-three percent. That means in less then seven percent of cases does a judge actualy review whether the government had sufficient justification to take the money. The other 93% are handled administrativley - meaning government attorneys, not judges, decide if the seizure was proper. And those government attorneys work for the same agencies that benefit financially from keeping the money.
You see the problem? The agency that seized your cash is also the agency that decides whether it gets to keep your cash. Theres no independent review unless YOU demand it by filing a claim within 30 days.
As Todd Spodek explains to clients in this situation, every day that passes without taking action is a day closer to permanant loss. The government knows most people wont respond in time. They know most people dont understand the process. They know most people assume if they werent charged with a crime, they'll eventualy get there money back. That assumption costs people everything.
What CBP Doesn't Tell You About the $10,000 "Rule"
One of the most common things we hear from clients is some version of: "I knew the limit was $10,000, so I only carried $9,000." Or: "I split the money between family members so none of us had more then $10,000."
Heres the reality that destroys that logic. There is no limit on how much cash you can legaly carry when traveling. Zero. You could technicaly carry $1 million dollars and break no law - as long as you report it properly. The $10,000 number that everyone references isnt a limit. Its a reporting threshold.
Federal law requires travelers carrying more then $10,000 in cash or monetary instruments to file a FinCEN Form 105 with CBP upon entry or exit from the United States. The form takes about five minutes to complete. Its available at the airport. Failing to file it when required is a violation of federal law - and heres the critical part - but so is "structuring" your cash to avoid the reporting requirement.
This is the trap that catches so many innocent people. If you split $25,000 between yourself and two family members, each carrying $8,000, you've just committed a federal offense called structuring under 31 USC 5324. Even though each person technicaly stayed under the $10,000 threshold. Even though no individual had a reporting obligation. The intent to avoid the reporting requirement is itself the crime.
Sound familiar?
Heres another thing CBP wont tell you: even if you properly file the FinCEN 105, they can still seize your cash if they suspect its connected to criminal activity. Reporting doesnt make you immune. It just removes one potential basis for seizure. You still have to explain the source and intended use of the funds, and if the officer doesnt like your answers - or decides your answers sound rehearsed, or thinks your story has inconsistancies - they can seize first and let you fight in court later.
At Spodek Law Group, weve represented clients who did everything right. Filed the paperwork. Answered questions honestly. Had legitimate documented sources for every dollar. Still had their cash seized becuase an officer decided something felt "off." The system gives enormous discretion to individual officers, and their determinations are incredibly difficult to challenge after the fact.
How Detector Dog "Fuzz" Creates Probable Cause From Nothing
CBP loves to mention there currency detector dogs in press releases. They give the dogs names. Fuzz. Striker. Max. They post photos. They celebrate seizures as team accomplishments between handler and canine. What they dont tell you is how these dogs manufacture probable cause from essentially nothing.
Heres the scientfic reality that courts have slowly started to acknowledge. Multiple studies have found that approximately 90% of all U.S. currency in circulation contains detectable traces of cocaine and other drugs. Ninety percent. That means nine out of every ten dollar bills you've ever touched would trigger an alert from a trained currency detector dog.
Think about what this means in practice. A CBP officer at Dulles Airport pulls you aside for secondary inspection. Maybe your one-way ticket flagged you. Maybe your destination country raised suspicions. Maybe you just fit a profile. The officer brings over a currency detector dog. The dog alerts on your bag. Congratulations - the officer now has probable cause to conduct a more intrusive search. And when they find your $30,000 in business cash, they seize it because the dog "confirmed" the money was connected to drug activity.
But wait. The dog would alert on almost any currency. The alert proves absolutley nothing about your specific money or your specific situation. The dog is trained to find money - period - and then the alert gets reframed as evidence of criminal connection.
Notice the pattern?
In reality, the dog isnt detecting crime. The dog is creating a legal justification for searches that officers want to conduct anyway. Its circular logic dressed up as scientfic evidence. And courts have generally allowed it, even as the underlying premise has been thoroughley debunked.
When CBP seized $90,535 from five travelers at Dulles in August 2024, detector dog Fuzz was credited with three of those seizures. Not one of those travelers was charged with a crime. The dog did exactly what it was trained to do - find money - and the government kept every dollar.
The Cooperation Trap That Uses Your Own Words Against You
This is were well-intentioned advice goes completly wrong. You've always heard that if you have nothing to hide, you should cooperate. Answer there questions. Explain yourself. Show them your innocent.
Everything you say to CBP officers is being evaluated, documented, and can be used against you in both civil forfeiture proceedings and potential criminal prosecutions. There are no "off the record" conversations. There are no casual questions. Every word you speak becomes part of the government's case.
Heres the trap. The officer asks where the money came from. You say its from your business - cash payments from customers over several months. Sounds reasonable, right? But now the officer notes that you have large amounts of cash accumulated outside the banking system. That's a flag for potential money laundering or tax evasion. Your honest explanation just became evidence of suspicious activity.
Or maybe you explain the money is a gift from family for a wedding. But you cant name exactly who gave what. Now there are "inconsistancies" in your story. Another flag.
Or you say you won the money gambling. Can you prove it? Do you have casino records going back months? Even if you do, cash gambling is associated in law enforcement minds with money laundering. Another flag.
Get it now?
Theres almost nothing you can say that a trained officer cant twist into grounds for suspicion. And once that suspicion is documented, it becomes the basis for seizure. Your own words. Your own explanations. Used against you to justify taking your money.
Todd Spodek has seen this pattern hundreds of times. Clients who tried to talk there way out of a seizure and talked themselves deeper into trouble. Clients who thought honesty would protect them and found there honest answers characterized as "deceptive" or "rehearsed" in government filings. The system rewards silence, but most people dont know that until its too late.
What should you do instead? Provide your identification. Answer questions about citizenship and travel purposes as required. But when it comes to explaining your money, you have the right to respectfully decline to answer without an attorney present. Exercise that right. Its not an admission of guilt. Its smart legal strategy.
Why the DEA Stopped But Dulles Never Did
If you've been following news about airport cash seizures, you might have heard something encouraging. In November 2024, the Department of Justice suspended the DEA's Transportation Interdiction Program - the initiative responsible for most domestic airport cash seizures. Internal reviews found the program had "significant issues" with constitutional violations and due process concerns.
But heres the kicker. That suspension only applied to the DEA.
Customs and Border Protection operates under the Department of Homeland Security, not the DOJ. CBP's seizure operations at Dulles and other international airports continued without interruption. Same tactics. Same legal framework. Same outcomes. The reform that made headlines didnt actualy fix anything for international travelers.
In fact, the situation may have gotten worse. With the DEA sidelined from domestic interdiction, DHS agencies have quietly expanded there own programs. Reports from December 2025 show that HSI (Homeland Security Investigations), CBP, and local police task forces have been flagging suspicious passengers and using the same drug-sniffing dogs to manufacture probable cause for searches.
The revenue stream must continue, apparently.
Between 2022 and 2024, the DEA's Transportation Interdiction Program seized $22 million from airline passengers. You know how many people they arrested? Fifty-seven. Twenty-two million dollars. Fifty-seven arrests. Thats roughly $386,000 seized for every single arrest. The overwhelming majority of that money was taken from people who were never charged with any crime - and kept by the federal government.
CBP operates with similar ratios. In each of the past three years, CBP has seized more then $60 million annually from international travelers. Most of that money was kept through civil forfeiture procedures that never involved criminal charges.
At Spodek Law Group, we want clients to understand the scope of what there dealing with. This isnt a broken system. Its working exactly as designed - as a revenue operation with law enforcement branding. The reforms are cosmetic. The fundamental structure remains intact. And your rights remain secondary to the government's interest in your cash.
What It Actually Takes to Get Your Money Back
After everything you've read, you might wonder if recovery is even possible. It absolutley is - but only if you take the right steps immedialty.
First, understand the timeline. You have 30 days from the seizure notice to file a claim demanding judicial review. This is non-negotiable. Miss this deadline and administrative forfeiture proceeds automaticaly.
Second, you need to file the claim correctly. Its a sworn statement under penalty of perjury asserting your ownership of the cash and your intent to contest the forfeiture. One mistake on this form can undermine your entire case.
Third, you need to prepare for the actual battle. Filing a claim forces the government to refer your case to a U.S. Attorney for civil forfeiture proceedings in federal court. Now you're in real litigation. You'll need to prove the source and intended use of every dollar. Bank records. Tax returns. Business documentation. Gift letters. Casino records. Whatever applies to your situation.
Fourth, you should understand available defenses. The innocent owner defense applies when you had no knowledge your property was being used for or connected to criminal activity. Constitutional challenges can be raised if CBP violated your Fourth Amendment rights during the search or if the forfeiture would constitute an excessive fine under the Eighth Amendment. Procedural defenses exist if the government failed to provide proper notice or missed there own deadlines.
Fifth, and most practically, know that most civil asset forfeiture attorneys work on contingency. You dont pay upfront fees. The attorney's compensation comes from what they recover for you. If they dont get your money back, you dont pay. This makes experienced legal representation accessable even when the government just took your life savings.
Heres the reality check. Fighting federal civil forfeiture is complex, expensive for the government, and time-consuming for everyone. The government knows this. They count on most people giving up, accepting partial settlements, or missing deadlines. When you show up with experienced counsel ready to litigate, the calculation changes.
The average forfeiture case takes 193 days to resolve. But cases with aggressive legal representation often resolve faster and with better outcomes. Government attorneys have limited resources. They prioritize cases they can win easily. When you make your case difficult, you increase your chances of full recovery.
Call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196. The clock started when you received that seizure notice. Every day without representation is a day the government uses to strengthen there position. They had months of preparation before they took your money. You deserve attorneys who can level that playing field.
The Questions You Should Be Asking Right Now
If CBP seized your cash at Washington Dulles, stop asking yourself what you did wrong. Start asking what the government did wrong. Was the initial stop justified? Was the search constitutional? Did they follow proper notice procedures? Was the seizure proportionate to any alleged violation? These are the questions that win cases.
Ask whether the drug dog alert actualy meant anything - or whether it was just a legal technicality used to justify a search they wanted to conduct anyway. Ask why you werent criminally charged if your money was supposedly connected to criminal activity. Ask why the burden is on you to prove innocence when the entire American legal system supposedly works the other way around.
The system at Dulles Airport and airports across America operates on a fundamental contradiction. Law enforcement agencies are allowed to profit directly from the property they seize. That creates an incentive structure that has nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with revenue generation. The statistics prove it. Billions seized. Minimal criminal prosecutions. Government agencies funding there operations with other people's money.
You didnt ask to be part of this system. You just tried to travel with cash that belonged to you. But now that your in it, you have exactly two choices. You can accept the loss and walk away. Or you can fight back with attorneys who understand exactly how this machinery works - and how to make it work for you instead of against you.
Spodek Law Group has represented clients facing CBP seizures from Dulles, JFK, LAX, and airports nationwide. We know the tactics. We know the deadlines. We know which arguments work and which waste time. Most importantly, we know that aggressive representation changes outcomes.
The next 30 days will determine whether you ever see your money again. Make them count.
