I read about this story a while back. Supposedly the safe deposit company was a front for some money laundering, but it also had a significant number of genuine customers and all of their property got rolled up as well. I thought I read that the customers had gotten some attorneys to fight for them.

Civil asset forfeiture is an obvious violation of the Fourth Amendment. The fact that it not only survived the very first court challenge against it but has somehow proliferated to every level of law enforcement in the country shows that the justice system is really just a fucking racket.