Feds go after online gambling defendant widow’s money
News on 4 Jan 2018
News on 4 Jan 2018
It seems from a report in the Dallas News this week that US federal officials can seize your inheritance, even where the deceased testator was not charged with any crime.
The report references litigation launched by Linda Hodges to reclaim around $4 million seized by the feds from her bank accounts last year following the death of her seventy-four-year old husband Robert Roy Hodges.
Hodges had left the cash to his wife, but federal officials seized the money despite there being no current charges laid or pending against the deceased.
He was, however, prosecuted, admitted guilt and convicted on online gambling charges several years ago. In that case he was sentenced to a year of probation and forced to forfeit $1.2 million in gambling proceeds, according to the U.S. attorney’s office, and that seems to be the basis for the fed’s action against his widow’s inheritance.
When a person who is under investigation dies, it can be difficult for his relatives to prove the money is clean, legal experts say, yet that is what they have to do to succeed in any action. Linda Hodges’ legal representatives have claimed under the “innocent owner” provision that she was not aware of “any illegal activity that could have generated the large amount of cash.”
Details of the government’s claim against the cash are in a sealed affidavit as the two sides try to work out a settlement. Legal experts say that such forfeitures are filed against the asset and not the person…and it is not necessary for any current criminal charges to have been filed.
Linda Hodges claims that she is the sole beneficiary of her late husband’s estate and that the funds seized by the IRS are not connected with any unlawful activities.
Hodges’ son, Robert E. Hodges (49) also had a run-in with federal enforcement on illegal gambling charges, the newspaper reports.
He pleaded guilty in 2012 and around $650,000 in cash in a safety deposit box was forfeited to the state. He died before sentencing in 2013, and prosecutors closed his case. Subsequently the government returned $128,000 of the seized funds, which his mother used to start trust funds for her deceased son’s children.
The Dallas News reports that federal forfeiture laws have been criticised by civil libertarians and others. A reform bill was introduced last year in Congress, but Attorney General Jeff Sessions this summer overturned an Obama Administration policy change limiting civil forfeiture in cases where criminal charges were not filed.
