When You Turn On The Light, The Cockroaches Scatter

On May 8th I posted an article about Lyndon McLellan, who owns and operates a local convenience store in Fairmont, North Carolina. Mr. McLellan was the victim of an IRS tactic called civil asset forfeiture, a tactic that allows the IRS to take the assets of a small business owner without charging them with anything. The procedure is unconstitutional, but that hasn’t stopped the IRS. I have posted a few articles on this practice. If you use the search engine on this site, you can find them. Basically, if a business consistently is making bank deposits of less than $10,000, the IRS accuses them of ‘structuring’ to avoid scrutiny (and paperwork) and seizes their assets.

The IRS seized slightly over $100,000 from Mr. McLellan. Mr. McLellan was told that if he went public, the IRS would make things worse for him (how much worse can it get after they have taken all of your money for no reason?). The IRS offered to give him half of his money back. Mr. McLellan went to the press.

The Daily Caller posted a follow-up on this story yesterday.

The Daily Caller reports:

McLellan went to the press anyway. The IRS quickly changed its tune and gave Lyndon McLellan back all $107,702 of his money.

“The government cannot turn Lyndon’s life upside down and then walk away as if nothing happened,” Robert Everett Johnson, a lawyer at the Institute for Justice who represents Lyndon, said in a statement. “Lyndon should not have to pay for the government’s lapse in judgment. And the government certainly should not profit from its misbehavior by keeping the interest that it earned while holding Lyndon’s money. We’ll continue to litigate this case until the government makes Lyndon whole.”

When you turn on the light, the cockroaches scatter.