300 Car Federal Auction in Utah

Pick up off of GRM advertiser, BaT. Here is an eclectic combination of vehicles.
Follow the link for further photos and a news story on these confiscated cars and motorcycles from one man who was busted for running a ponsi scheme (no not Maddof.)

http://bringatrailer.com/2009/12/21/us-marshal-liquidation-confiscated-collection/

wow, road trip to utah or 24hrs?? can't afford to do both....but by the time I made it to Utah, I wouldn't be able to afford much. oh well. At least the feds aren't letting these sit and rot in a warehouse somewhere.

One of the posters on the BaT site mentions something:

basically "whatever bad this guy did, it's a black eye for the US Gov't that his stuff gets auctioned off before he goes to trial"

And I somehow have to agree. It happens with houses as well...

As much as some of the posters on BAT hate the guys taste I would gladly take most any of the cars there. Aside from rims and tacky details most of them are pretty cool.

How are they able to sell his goods when he's innocent until proven guilty?

Greg Voth wrote: As much as some of the posters on BAT hate the guys taste I would gladly take most any of the cars there. Aside from rims and tacky details most of them are pretty cool.

Agreed.

Wooo! Hmm, Utah is just next door.

carguy123 wrote: How are they able to sell his goods when he's innocent until proven guilty?

From Wikipedia: "There are two types of forfeiture cases, criminal and civil. Almost all forfeiture cases today are civil. In civil forfeiture cases, the US Government sues the item of property, not the person; the owner is effectively a third party claimant. Once the government establishes probable cause that the property is subject to forfeiture, the owner must prove on a "preponderance of the evidence" that it is not. The owner need not be judged guilty of any crime. In contrast, criminal forfeiture is usually carried out in a sentence following a conviction and is a punitive act against the offender. Since the government can choose the type of case, a civil case is almost always chosen. The costs of such cases is high for the owner, usually totaling around $10,000 and can take up to three years."

Basically, the guy had to prove, in civil court, beyond a reasonable doubt that he was innocent, rather than the prosecutor proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the guy is guilty.

So the 18 year old guy driving the Escalade on 24's who has no job gets his truck confiscated. The prosectur says "this guy's driving a $60,000 truck but has no pay stubs, no income tax return, no trust fund, no inheritance, he didn't win the lottery, this truck was obviously bought with money obtained illegally." To get the truck back, the guy has to prove conclusively that he got it legally. Even if the guy has never broken a law in his life, and he found $60,000 in the street and used that money to buy the truck, if he can't prove he found that money, he's SOL.

Bob

Edited because wikipedia says it better than I did.

Keith wrote: Wooo! Hmm, Utah is just next door.

What is that?

from Wiki:

"The Autozam AZ-1, known as the framecode PG6SA, is a mid-engined two-seat sports coupé kei car, designed and manufactured by Suzuki but sold by Mazda under its Autozam brand. It debuted in October 1992 until production ceased in 1994, and was perhaps most noted for its gullwing doors. Power came from the same Suzuki-sourced 657 cc turbocharged engine used by the Mazda Carol that produced 64 PS (47 kW) at 6500 rpm and 85 N·m (63 ft·lbf) at 4000 rpm. Suzuki produced its own badge engineered version named the Suzuki Cara (PG6SS). The car is also popular as a grey import in some markets, and has been converted to left-hand drive for the Canadian and other left hand drive markets."

In reply to 914Driver:

Autozam AZ-1, designed by Suzuki, sold by Mazda. It's a mid-engine 2 seater with a turbo 650cc engine.

I would take:

Dinan 7 Merc S500 F350 Diesel one of the Panteras black T-Bird Mercuary Monterrey the NSX just for good measure.

What a wierd group of cars though. I'm sure he didn't buy the Chevy Tracker...I think it just appeared, same thing with the Subaru Baja.

Greg Voth wrote: As much as some of the posters on BAT hate the guys taste I would gladly take most any of the cars there. Aside from rims and tacky details most of them are pretty cool.

I saw quite a few that would be interesting/fun to own. I think people on BaT are trying to keep interest down so they can score a good deal.