Pubdate: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 Source: Houston Chronicle (TX) Contact: http://www.chron.com/ Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html Copyright: 1998 Houston Chronicle Author: ED ASHER 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