Two Americans have filed lawsuit against FBI, here's why

Two Americans named Don Mellein and Jeni Pearsons have sued the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI). According to a report by Fox News, on Friday, the Institute for Justice has filed the two lawsuits on behalf of its clients.

The matter pertains to a FBI raid on U.S. Private Vaults, a Beverly Hills–based company in March 2021. The two persons' property stored there in safety deposit boxes was seized by FBI during the raid. Later, after court proceedings when the property was returned to Mellein and Pearsons, they found some of their property missing.

As per the report, Mellein had kept cash and 110 gold coins worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in the safety deposit box. Meanwhile, Pearsons and her husband Michael Storc stored around $20,000 in silver and $2,000 in cash in their box.

"All we know is that their property was in a box and safe before the FBI broke into the box," Joe Gay, an attorney with the nonprofit law firm Institute for Justice, told Fox News.

"Once the FBI broke into the box, we honestly don't know exactly what happened," added Joe.

"We don't know if they lost it. We don't know if somebody pocketed it and walked away. We have no way to know," shared Joe.

Pearsons reiterated either FBI lost the property or they stole it. Notably, FBI's shoddy recordkeeping of the seized property has complicated any redressal of the issue.

"There’s literally been no explanation. I think you have to assume that it's the simplest explanation, and I think, unfortunately, the simplest explanation is they took it or lost it," said Pearsons.

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Initially, Mellein received the cash from his box but none of his 110 gold coins. Later, when he sued the government seeking the return of the coins, 47 gold coins were given to him. But remaining 63 gold coins are yet to be handed over to him.

On the other hand, Pearsons hasn't received the $2,000 in cash from her box.

"We don't know for sure how the property disappeared, we just know it disappeared. And whether it's negligence, whether it's something worse, the government shouldn't be able to rely on its own shoddy recordkeeping to avoid responsibility for losing their property," said Mellein and Pearsons' attorney Joe.

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