Glendale store owner challenges civil asset forfeiture, seeks return of $460,000

Federal agents raided Mario Ayala’s Glendale convenience store 20 months ago and walked out with about $460,000 in cash and checks, plus his phones, computers and business records.

They told his family they’d be in touch within 30 days.

The family never heard back.

Ayala has not been charged with a crime.

His attorneys say he never received the paperwork he needs to fight for his property.

On Tuesday, attorneys with the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit law firm based in Arlington, Virginia, asked a federal judge in Phoenix to order the government to return his property.

The firm represents clients for free in cases where it says the government has overstepped its power.

“Under our Constitution, the government can’t just take your stuff and then ghost you,” Institute for Justice attorney Betsy Sanz said at a news conference.

Agents from Homeland Security Investigations and the IRS raided Ayala’s store and 18 other Phoenix-area money services businesses on Feb. 25, 2025.

The search warrants listed a single suspected offense: structuring, or breaking up cash transactions to avoid federal reporting requirements.

What is civil asset forfeiture?

The government can keep cash and property it suspects is tied to a crime, even without charging anyone.

That process is called civil forfeiture.

A federal law, the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act, or CAFRA, gives owners a chance to fight back. Within 60 days of a seizure, the government must send a written notice explaining how to challenge it.

“If the government does not provide a CAFRA notice within 60 days, then by law it is obligated to return the property,” senior attorney Kirby Thomas West said.

The filing also argues the IRS had no right to take the money in the first place. The attorneys argue that another federal law bars the agency from seizing property when structuring is the only suspected crime.

Ayala was in Mexico with his dying father during the raid.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said the seizure left the store without enough cash to serve customers who came in to cash checks.

“Our business has decreased by approximately 40 percent,” he said. “My wife was traumatized.”

He opened Ayala’s Mini Market in 2018 as a way to move his family forward.

“Up until the raid, we were doing well,” Ayala said. “And so I want to be able to build that up again.”

The government is expected to respond to the motion in about 60 days.

An HSI spokesperson declined comment to KTAR News.

“HSI does not comment on active litigation,” they said.

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