Federal agents seized about $460,000 in cash and checks, as well as phones, computers and business records, from Mario Ayala’s Glendale convenience store on Feb. 25, 2025. Ayala was in Mexico with his dying father at the time. More than a year and a half later, he has not recovered the property and has not been charged with a crime.
Homeland Security Investigations and the IRS raided Ayala’s Mini Market and 18 other Phoenix-area money-services businesses that day, KTAR News reported. According to the station, the search warrants identified structuring—breaking up cash transactions to evade federal reporting requirements—as the sole suspected offense. Ayala has not been charged in connection with the case.
Ayala opened Ayala's Mini Market in Glendale in 2018, building a business that offers check-cashing and money-transfer services to his community, according to the Institute for Justice. The nonprofit law firm, which says it represents clients for free in cases where it believes the government has overstepped its power, has now teamed up with Ayala to sue the federal government and demand his money back.
A Dispute Over Notice
The Institute for Justice says agents told Ayala’s family they would follow up within 30 days of the raid, but the family says no call came. According to the attorneys, Ayala did not receive the paperwork needed to begin challenging the seizure.
Civil asset forfeiture can allow the government to pursue property it believes is connected to a crime without first charging the owner. Federal law sets notice and claim deadlines for covered proceedings; the deadlines are separate, and the rules include qualifications.
Institute for Justice attorney Kirby Thomas West said that if the government fails to provide that notice in time, it is legally obligated to return the property. Attorney Betsy Sanz put it more bluntly, saying the government cannot take someone's property and then stop communicating.
A Business Hanging On Without Its Cash Reserves
Ayala told KTAR that losing the cash left the store without enough reserves to cash checks for customers. “Our business has decreased by approximately 40 percent,” he said, according to the station.
Notice deadlines and check-cashing context
The Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act generally requires written notice as soon as practicable and no more than 60 days after a seizure in covered nonjudicial civil forfeiture proceedings, subject to statutory exceptions. A separate clock starts when a property claim is filed: the government generally has 90 days to file a forfeiture complaint or return the property, subject to statutory qualifications and possible court extensions, according to Congress’s 2000 law. The FDIC’s 2023 national survey found that money-order and check-cashing use had fallen by more than half over the prior decade, while remaining more common among unbanked households than banked ones. The national finding does not establish usage in Glendale or Maricopa County.
Ayala’s attorneys argue that the IRS could not seize the money because structuring was the only suspected offense. Federal forfeiture provisions, including 18 U.S.C. § 981 and 31 U.S.C. § 5317, address when property involved in or traceable to reporting violations may be seized and forfeited. The cited excerpts are from an older edition of the code and do not provide a complete account of current law.
Case Now Before a Phoenix Federal Judge
Institute for Justice attorneys have asked a federal judge in Phoenix to order the government to return Ayala’s property. The Institute for Justice’s press release describes the lawsuit as a direct challenge to the seizure. The government is expected to respond to the motion in about 60 days.
KTAR reported that HSI declined to comment and that the IRS had not responded to its request for comment by publication. Ayala is still operating a reduced business while he waits for the court to consider whether the government must return the roughly $460,000 seized while he was in Mexico with his dying father.
