A San Diego currency wholesaler is suing the federal government after agents seized $320,000 from one of his couriers at San Diego International Airport. Steven Bailey and his company, Global Coin Logistics, filed two federal lawsuits challenging seizures by the DEA and Customs and Border Protection.
The lawsuits, filed in San Diego and Miami federal courts, challenge seizures by the DEA and CBP, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
What Happened at the San Diego Airport
According to the lawsuit, an East Coast ATM operator had ordered $320,000 in $20 bills, and a Global Coin Logistics courier planned to carry the cash on a commercial flight from San Diego to Philadelphia in carry-on luggage. A TSA agent flagged the courier's cash-filled bag, and DEA agents questioned the courier at length before seizing the currency. No one was arrested, and the seizure did not lead to criminal charges.
Bailey said bulk cash can carry trace drug residue, and that a dog's alert does not establish any criminal connection. The lawsuit also says the courier had declared the cash to Mexican customs in Tijuana, to CBP at Calexico, and to U.S. customs at an inland checkpoint, and was cleared each time before the San Diego seizure.
A Separate Seizure in Miami
The second lawsuit stems from an incident at Miami International Airport last Halloween, where CBP seized more than $1 million in U.S. and Mexican currency from a Global Coin Logistics aircraft. The lawsuit says at least four vehicles blocked the private plane's runway exit during that seizure. As with the San Diego case, no arrests were made and no criminal charges followed.
Global Coin Logistics is a wholesale currency exchange business. The lawsuit says that in September 2025, the company imported a shipment of $1.2 million in U.S. cash from Tijuana to Southern California as part of its regular operations.
A DEA San Diego field office spokesperson said the agency does not comment on pending litigation, while CBP did not provide a substantive response to a request for comment, the Union-Tribune reported.
How Administrative Forfeiture Works
The seizures rely on a process known as administrative forfeiture. In civil forfeiture, the government can seize property based on suspicion, leaving owners to challenge it. Under 31 U.S.C. § 5317, property involved in certain monetary-reporting violations, or traceable to one, can be seized and forfeited using procedures that mirror civil forfeiture in money-laundering cases, according to the United States Code.
A Broader Pattern at U.S. Airports
The DEA's Transportation Interdiction Program was temporarily suspended by the Justice Department after an Inspector General report flagged significant risks of constitutional violations, according to Reason. The DEA later announced it was ending the program. Between 2022 and 2024, DEA agents in that program seized $22 million in suspected drug proceeds but arrested only 57 suspects, Reason reported.
Even after that suspension, Homeland Security Investigations, CBP and local police kept airport cash seizures going at two Dallas-area airports, the outlet reported. In one case cited by Reason, Homeland Security agents seized $800,000 from a passenger at Love Field after claiming they smelled marijuana, even though the search turned up no marijuana and the passenger was never charged. In another, task force officers seized roughly $350,000 after a drug dog alerted on luggage, and the government later settled by returning $178,000 to the owner. The DEA returned $28,000 to Kermit Warren in 2021 after seizing his life savings at an airport, and the Institute for Justice filed a class-action lawsuit in 2020 on behalf of travelers whose money was taken in similar stops.
A 2016 USA Today investigation, cited by Reason, found the DEA had seized more than $209 million from at least 5,200 travelers at 15 major airports over the preceding decade. A 2017 Justice Department Inspector General report found the agency had seized more than $4 billion in cash over ten years, with $3.2 billion of it never tied to any criminal charges. Whether Bailey's seized funds will ultimately be returned, forfeited, or remain in government custody is not addressed in the available court filings.
