In 2019, officers on a drug task force had taken his luggage from an Amtrak train at Union Station in Chicago. Inside was $115,000 in cash. To them it was the usual thing. A one-way ticket. A suitcase full of bills. A long trip across the country. They had seen it before.
I mean, what the fuck dude? You're tripping everything that these people are looking for. I understand that this was illegal seizure of assets, but still - don't fucking poke the bear.
Carrying that much cash for any reason on a cross-country trip could have resulted in loss from multiple means. It's a pain in the ass, but things like cashier's checks are made for this sort of thing - if he mined gold he had to sell it he should have a receipt from the purchaser to satisfy reporting requirements - this should have satisfied the court. The fact that the article doesn't mention this in any way seems to indicate that the guy probably is doing funny stuff anyway...
Fucking rent a car!
That's another option. It's like the dude wanted to be caught. I know that the fondelgrabben people are going to look at everything I bring (and they always ask questions when I'm going on a trip and have a bag full of weird electronics.) So...I feel for the guy but I'm also "Dude, you suck, and that's sad."
It's like why would you give people to opportunity to rob you.... the more people look, the more they have a chance to take what's yours.