A small business owner has had to hand over almost one million dollars to a federal program, who believes the money was obtained by the wrong means.
Andrew Clyde is a Navy veteran who served in Iraq. Back in the 1990s he decided to open up his own firearm shop in Athens, Georgia. Everything could not be better for the former vet, up until 2013 when two IRS agents showed up at his door and seized almost a million dollars from the businesses bank account.
The agency that seized the money operates that they could potentially take possession of assets if the suspects are involved in criminal activity; even if no criminal activity has occurred.
“I did not serve three combat tours in Iraq only to come home and be extorted” by the government, Clyde claimed on Wednesday when he appeared in front of the House hearing.
At the meeting IRS Commissioner John Koskien stated that the agency is indeed sorry for the practice and stopped this sort of activity back in October.
The Bank Secrecy Act is the origin of this policy and under the law; companies must report cash deposits of more than 10,000 dollars, according to Fox News
In this particular case, Clyde is being accused of “structuring,” an act that alleged criminals do where they calculate the amounts to deposit which do not require federal reporting.
Clyde claims that he only did this because of his insurance policy. Since this Clyde has had to pay a total of 150,000 dollars and a 50,000 dollar settlement in order to get the remainder of his money back.
Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa stated Wednesday at the hearing that, “You’ve been violated by your government,” while he often defends IRS practices he had to state that this system may be flawed, but he does believe in the agency previously stating, “The IRS pursue seizures only when there is probable cause that the money is subject to forfeiture — and only after seizure affidavits have been reviewed by a federal prosecutor and authorized by a federal judge.”
Photo By: AP
