U.S. Mint Ordered to Return Family’s Rare Coins

In 2003, ten gold coins  were found by Joan Langbord in her  late father’s safety deposit box. The Double Eagles, $20 coins minted in 1933 but not released, were confiscated from the Langbord family by Mint officials who assumed the never released coins must have been obtained illegally. The Langbords sued for return of the coins in 2006. A jury found for the government in 2011, and the family appealed.

In Langbord v. U.S. Dep’t of the Treasury, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the coins should be returned to the family, because the government failed to comply with the 90-day filing deadline required under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000.

See Ashby Jones, Court Orders U.S. Mint to Return Famed Coins to Family, Wall Street Journal, Apr. 17, 2015.

Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.