$750,000 is a lot of money. I have a job that pays me well, and maintaining my legal, safe lifestyle is worth more to me than getting away with more money.
I would search for anything that helps identify the owner, and failing that, confirm my idea with a lawyer. My understanding is that in my state, I have to give the money to the police for 60 days. If the owner fails to claim it, it legally becomes mine, and I have to pay income taxes on it. That’ll make a mess of my tax filings for the year (suddenly I don’t qualify for Roth IRA, for example) but I don’t place myself in any legal danger.
It’s a boring answer, but I’d much rather have a boring $440,000 than an exciting $750,000 and a constant threat looming over me.
Most police would just seize the money saying they suspect it was used in a crime. Why would they let some rando have it if it could buy the office a new MRAP?
The problem is that the charges are against the property itself, and it’s a civil not a criminal charge. So the police only have to meet a minimal standard that there is probable cause. This could be as simple as claiming the only reason someone wouldn’t be actively seeking that large amount of money through legal means would be that the money was involved with or acquired through illegal means.
If the police did seize the money, it would at least be tied up in court for years with extended legal expenses. Personally I would rather take my chances on laundering the money or an extended period of time.
Who’s casting stones? I’m giving my opinion to wt:thons reply to a hypothetical situation.
Thon says that thon is doing alright, so this $750 000 is a choice that might take a relatively short time to figure out: for some a few days, for others, a little longer, and for some a few minutes.
IMO there are at least 2 moral questions here.
Is this a case of some decent person somehow losing $750 000?
Should one report it, and while it might go to a decent person, it also might be returned to a bank or some similar or worse, and if unclaimed, ≤$210 000 goes to a government presided by Trump; or does one not report it maybe spend $37 500 of cash every year for the next 20 years?
$750,000 is a lot of money. I have a job that pays me well, and maintaining my legal, safe lifestyle is worth more to me than getting away with more money.
I would search for anything that helps identify the owner, and failing that, confirm my idea with a lawyer. My understanding is that in my state, I have to give the money to the police for 60 days. If the owner fails to claim it, it legally becomes mine, and I have to pay income taxes on it. That’ll make a mess of my tax filings for the year (suddenly I don’t qualify for Roth IRA, for example) but I don’t place myself in any legal danger.
It’s a boring answer, but I’d much rather have a boring $440,000 than an exciting $750,000 and a constant threat looming over me.
Most police would just seize the money saying they suspect it was used in a crime. Why would they let some rando have it if it could buy the office a new MRAP?
That’s why you try to do it with a lawyer, but they’ll still steal it anyway.
The problem is that the charges are against the property itself, and it’s a civil not a criminal charge. So the police only have to meet a minimal standard that there is probable cause. This could be as simple as claiming the only reason someone wouldn’t be actively seeking that large amount of money through legal means would be that the money was involved with or acquired through illegal means.
If the police did seize the money, it would at least be tied up in court for years with extended legal expenses. Personally I would rather take my chances on laundering the money or an extended period of time.
I don’t have any savings, in my 50s. Cash still spends most places.
If you’re American, that’d be ≤$210 000 for the US government, including the military, ICE, and the US prison-industrial complex.
Let he who does not indirectly contribute to the military industrial complex cast the first stone
Who’s casting stones? I’m giving my opinion to wt:thons reply to a hypothetical situation.
Thon says that thon is doing alright, so this $750 000 is a choice that might take a relatively short time to figure out: for some a few days, for others, a little longer, and for some a few minutes.
IMO there are at least 2 moral questions here.
Is this a case of some decent person somehow losing $750 000?
Should one report it, and while it might go to a decent person, it also might be returned to a bank or some similar or worse, and if unclaimed, ≤$210 000 goes to a government presided by Trump; or does one not report it maybe spend $37 500 of cash every year for the next 20 years?