Rob Johnson retweeted
Important case filed in the Southern District of Florida (and in S.D. Cal.) on the feds' civil forfeiture abuse.
Federal agents seized nearly $1.4 million from Steven Bailey’s business. No criminal charges. No explanation of what law he supposedly broke.
Now he’s teaming up with IJ to fight back.
This is his story.
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Yesterday the New York City Council passed the "Community Option to Purchase Act," a law that is designed to move apartment buildings from private ownership to favored "community" nonprofits. It's a massive grab for private property, as I described in the thread below.
OK, so at step 1 the city regulates buildings into distress, and at step 2 the city objects to the sale to willing private buyers.
Now step 3: The last step in the scheme is to force the sale of the distressed buildings to public owners -- either favored "community" non-profits y subsidized by the government) or the city itself.
Cea Weaver herself made this explicit in an essay she published late last year:
In other words: The government-created crisis in the apartment market will open up a "long-due conversation" and--ultimately--allow the city to step in and "purchase buildings where the landlord is no longer interested in ownership."
And isn't that a lovely phrase? "No longer interested in ownership." It makes it sound like building owners will just wake up one day and decide on a whim they no longer feel like owning their buildings. They'd rather be done with the whole "private property" thing. But let's be clear about what's really going on: The idea is that the city's regulations will create so much economic pain that building owners will be forced to sell to the city at fire sale prices.
And if the city doesn't step in directly, it will direct the sale of the buildings to favored non-profit organizations. That's the aim of the "Community Option to Purchase Act"--legislation proposed late last year before the NY City Council. COPA would give favored non-profits a right of first refusal whenever distressed properties come onto the market:
Well, you might say, no harm since the owner gets paid. Not really: The owner gets a fire-sale price, reflecting the fact that the building has been forced into distress and can't be profitably operated. Already, rent stabilized buildings in New York are selling at roughly half the value they might have commanded not too long ago. And with calls to freeze the rent, that's only going to get worse.
Bottom line: Private owners are forced by city regulations to sell their buildings at rock bottom prices, and then the city either takes them over itself or transfers ownership to its non-profit friends.
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Rob Johnson retweeted
Cash is not criminal. But the feds keep treating it like it is.
Cash is just at the core of how many small businesses operate. Cash isn't inherently suspicious.
Cash is just at the core of how many small businesses operate. Cash isn't inherently suspicious.
IRS agents seized over $450,000 from a small business in Arizona in February 2025.
The alleged crime? "Structuring" ... meaning engaging in cash transactions under $10,000.
Nearly 20 months later, the government has not filed a case, but still has the funds.
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IRS agents seized over $450,000 from a small business in Arizona in February 2025.
The alleged crime? "Structuring" ... meaning engaging in cash transactions under $10,000.
Nearly 20 months later, the government has not filed a case, but still has the funds.
The alleged crime? "Structuring" ... meaning engaging in cash transactions under $10,000.
Nearly 20 months later, the government has not filed a case, but still has the funds.
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Very glad my @IJ colleagues are on this case. The IRS needs to give this money back, and it needs to follow the law.
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This WSJ video about rent stabilization in NYC has gone viral in crazy-housing-activist circles, and it's been interesting to watch the insane responses. Total economic illiteracy. Naked hatred for landlords. Open calls to seize private property.
These NYC apartments are standing empty, not because the owners don't want to rent them, but because rent stabilization laws prohibit them from charging enough to earn back the costs of necessary repairs.
My latest for @WSJFreeEx
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We are litigating a case challenging these rent laws as a violation of the Constitution. Because the Constitution exists to protect individual rights from mobs like this one.
x.com/FreeRangeLawye…
x.com/FreeRangeLawye…
Almost two years ago, I posted about Justice Thomas's opinion encouraging more targeted challenges to New York's rent stabilization law. Yesterday, we filed a case responding to that call.
It's took a huge amount of work to get from there to here. Months and months talking to building owners to understand their situation; visiting apartment buildings to see the situation on the ground; reading the rent stabilization regulations cover-to-cover; doing a deep dive on the Supreme Court's takings jurisprudence over the last hundred years.
The result is a lawsuit that not only can win but should win--that presents the strongest possible challenge to a deeply irrational regime that is harming building owners and tenants alike.
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