Currency Seizures

CBP seizes currency at airports, land border crossings, and seaports when travelers fail to report amounts over $10,000 using FinCEN Form 105 — even when the money is entirely legitimate. The reporting requirement applies in both directions, to U.S. citizens and foreign nationals alike, and to the total amount being transported by a group rather than per person. A failure to report is enough to trigger seizure regardless of where the money came from or where it was going.

Seizures can also be elevated to more serious allegations. If CBP believes currency was concealed — in envelopes, a money belt, or distributed across bags — the case may be classified as bulk cash smuggling under 31 USC 5332, which carries harsher penalties and less favorable mitigation guidelines than a simple failure to report. Splitting currency among traveling companions to keep each person under $10,000 can be charged as structuring under 31 USC 5324, a separate federal offense.

We handle every stage of the currency seizure process — from advising on the Election of Proceedings form and preparing administrative petitions, through CAFRA judicial claims and offers in compromise. We know CBP’s unpublished mitigation guidelines and have direct relationships with Fines, Penalties & Forfeitures officers at ports nationwide.

Currency Seizure Practice Area

Penalty Defense & Mitigation

CBP issues monetary penalties for a wide range of import and export violations. The most common is a 19 USC 1592 penalty — assessed when an importer makes a material false statement or omission in connection with an entry, whether through fraud, gross negligence, or negligence. This covers misclassification, undervaluation, false country of origin declarations, incorrect descriptions of goods, and a range of other entry irregularities. Penalties under Section 1592 are calculated against the dutiable value of the merchandise and can reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single shipment.

Beyond 1592 penalties, CBP also assesses liquidated damages against customs bonds for breach of bond conditions, issues separate penalties for counterfeit trademark imports calculated against the MSRP of the genuine article, and penalizes importers for ISF filing failures, wood packaging material violations, export regulation violations, and more. Each penalty type has its own statutory framework, its own mitigation guidelines, and its own response deadline — typically 30 days from the date of the notice.

Penalty Defense Practice Area

Tariffs, Trade Compliance & Rulings

Not every customs matter begins with an enforcement action. The current tariff environment — with Section 301 China tariffs, Section 232 duties on steel, aluminum, copper, autos, and other sectors, the Section 122 global 10% surcharge, and active AD/CVD orders covering hundreds of product categories — creates significant duty exposure for importers who have not taken proactive steps to understand and manage their classification, valuation, and country of origin positions.

A binding ruling request locks in CBP’s position on how your goods will be classified or valued before they arrive, eliminating uncertainty and protecting you from retroactive duty assessments. A duty protest filed within 180 days of liquidation can recover duties paid on entries that were incorrectly assessed. An AD/CVD scope ruling request can establish whether your specific product falls within the scope of an antidumping or countervailing duty order — a determination that can mean the difference between a standard duty rate and one that is ten times higher.

We also advise importers on country of origin and substantial transformation analysis, Section 301 exclusion strategy, customs valuation disputes, prior disclosures for importers who have identified compliance errors before CBP initiates a formal investigation, and customs broker penalty defense under 19 USC 1641. A compliance problem identified and disclosed proactively is almost always resolved more favorably than one CBP discovers on its own.

Tariff Strategy Overview

Merchandise Detention & Exclusion

Before a penalty is assessed or a seizure is formalized, CBP may detain your merchandise while it conducts an examination or awaits clearance from a partner government agency. Detention status attaches after 5 business days without a release decision, and CBP has a maximum of 30 days to act before the goods are deemed excluded by law.

Common causes of detention include suspected trademark or copyright infringement, country of origin marking deficiencies, admissibility questions flagged by the FDA, USDA, CPSC, or other partner government agencies, suspected AD/CVD evasion, and documentary irregularities that require clarification before entry. Each detention carries its own procedural track, and the right response depends on the reason CBP gave — or refused to give — for holding the goods.

A merchandise detention is a time-sensitive business problem. Goods sitting at the port accrue storage charges, miss delivery commitments, and in some cases spoil or lose commercial value entirely. Resolving a detention quickly requires understanding what CBP needs to see, producing it in the right format, and — when CBP’s position is wrong — formally challenging the detention before it ripens into exclusion or seizure.

Detention & Exclusion Overview