Court Rejects Drug Trafficker’s Bid to Recover 282.845077 Bitcoin Forfeited to U.S.
On Wednesday, May 14, 2025, Judge James C. Dever III of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina granted the United States’ motion to dismiss a petition filed by Matthew Lee Yensan seeking the return of 282.845077 Bitcoin seized by the government.
Yensan’s petition, filed on April 19, 2024, requested the return of the Bitcoin under various legal provisions, including 19 U.S.C. § 1607(a)(1), Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(g), and the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The United States responded on December 16, 2024, with a motion to dismiss, citing a lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim. Yensan opposed the motion on March 3, 2025, and the government replied two days later.
The case stemmed from a 2017 Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation in Raleigh, North Carolina, which uncovered Yensan’s alleged production and sale of counterfeit Xanax pills on the dark web. On August 22, 2017, a traffic stop near Yensan’s residence led to the discovery of 20 bindles of heroin and a gram of marijuana, with the vehicle’s occupants claiming they purchased the drugs from Yensan and his girlfriend. On September 9, 2017, authorities intercepted a package containing 1,716 grams of marijuana addressed to Yensan’s company, “Y Vending, Limited Liability Corporation.” Three days later, Yensan was apprehended while attempting to flee his residence, where a search uncovered firearms, significant quantities of marijuana, butane hash oil, $269,068 in cash, and multiple Bitcoin wallets.
A search of a storage unit rented by Yensan under an alias revealed equipment for producing approximately 300,000 Xanax dosage units, including pill presses, a computer accessing the dark web, and packaging materials. Authorities also found a notecard with 24 words in a safe, which served as passwords to access one of Yensan’s virtual wallets containing 182.7473678 Bitcoin. Additional wallets held 5 Bitcoin, 50 Bitcoin, and 50.0998 Bitcoin, totaling 287.8471678 Bitcoin seized, along with 1,000 Litecoin.
On October 3, 2017, a grand jury indicted Yensan on charges including possession with intent to distribute marijuana and alprazolam, distribution of a controlled substance via the internet, and possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking. Yensan signed a plea agreement on January 23, 2018, agreeing to forfeit assets involved in his criminal activities, including all seized items, and waiving further notice of forfeiture proceedings. The court issued a final forfeiture order on January 17, 2019, permanently transferring 1,000 Litecoin, 1.43974105 Bitcoin, and 0.83581392 Bitcoin to the United States.
The DEA initiated administrative forfeiture proceedings for the remaining Bitcoin, sending notices to Yensan at multiple addresses, including the county jail where he was held, between October and November 2017. Public notice was also published on Forfeiture.gov from November 20 to December 19, 2017. No claims were filed during this period, and administrative forfeiture notices for the Bitcoin were issued in January 2018.
The court dismissed Yensan’s petition, finding he lacked Article III standing due to his plea agreement, which relinquished his interest in the seized Bitcoin. Additionally, the court noted that Yensan’s challenge to the administrative forfeiture was untimely under both the five-year limit of 18 U.S.C. § 983(e) and the six-year limit of 28 U.S.C. § 2401(a), as he filed his petition after the deadlines of December 19, 2022, and January 31, 2024, respectively.
The court also ruled that Yensan failed to state a claim, as 19 U.S.C. § 1607(a)(1) does not provide a private right of action, and his petition did not allege insufficient notice under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act.
Please contact BlockTribune for access to a copy of this filing.
