COURT UPHOLDS CASH FORFEITURE OF $9 MILLION

A federal appellate court has upheld the forfeiture of more than $9 million
in cash deposited in a Houston bank by a former Mexican official who was in
charge of investigating drug cartels.

A jury last year determined that the money deposited by Mario Ruiz Massieu,
a former deputy attorney general of Mexico, was earned by drug trafficking.

The money was deposited by a Ruiz Massieu associate in a Galleria-area
branch of Texas Commerce Bank between March 1994 and February 1995.

In an April 1997 decision, a civil jury agreed with the government that it
was drug money. The jury decided Ruiz Massieu had to forfeit $7.9 million to
the U.S. government but could keep $1.1 million that he claimed came from
the sale of a beach house in Mexico.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas later ruled that the government could seize
all $9 million.

Ruiz Massieu, who claimed the money came from his brother, appealed to the
5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals contending that Atlas had made many
procedural errors. But that court ruled Wednesday that Atlas had made no
procedural or legal errors and said the seizure of all $9 million was
proper.

Checked-by: Don Beck