FreedomWorks recently announced the launch of the American Freedom Initiative (AFI), a collaboration headed by former acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker. This project aims to help relieve injustices committed against Americans under the criminal justice system and the regulatory state. As part of this project, we will shine a spotlight on some of the individuals the AFI has identified under its Administrative Abuse Project who have been the victims of federal regulatory overreach.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a long, well-documented history of abusing federal forfeiture laws. They seize assets from innocent Americans on the mere suspicion of malfeasance. If the IRS believes a citizen is structuring deposits to avoid reporting requirements, the agency can seize your money. Administrative reforms were made in 2015 to roll back some abuses, but there is still much work to be done.

Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee want to know why the Department of Justice (DOJ) has denied petitions by Americans whose money was seized by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The seized money was subject to federal civil asset forfeiture hearings in which the individual from whom the money was taken had to prove that it wasn’t connected to any wrongdoing.

As one of over 5.7 million FreedomWorks activists nationwide, I urge you to contact your representatives to encourage them to support H.R. 5283, the Deterring Undue Enforcement by Protecting Rights of Citizens from Excessive Searches and Seizures Act, or Due Process Act.

A federal judge has ordered the Internal Revenue Service to pay the legal fees of Lyndon McLellan, a convenience store owner based in Fairmont, North Carolina, whose bank account was wrongfully seized by the powerful tax agency in July 2014. The IRS had previously agreed to drop the attempted forfeiture of the $107,702.66 it stole from McLellan.

A bipartisan group of members on the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee have come together to call for repayments to victims of civil asset forfeiture. Earlier this week, nine of the eleven members of the Subcommittee signed onto a letter to Jack Lew, Secretary of the Treasury, calling for repayments to a family of dairy farmers and others similarly situated.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a lengthy record of abusing power.