Decision of the Day reports on an amusing argument made in a case seeking return of seized property in a drug raid:
Defendant Tamer Ibrahim was a suspect in an ecstasy distribution ring. And a lucrative one at that. When police raided his apartment, they found $221,000 in a safe, $240,000 in a bag outside the apartment, and almost $30,000 scattered around the apartment. They also found some money on top of a dresser. After Ibrahim was convicted for his role in the drug ring, his presentencing report stated that the amount on top of the dresser was $485,000.. . . .
[In the appeal,] Ibrahim wants all the money listed in the presentencing report, including the $485,000 supposedly found on the dresser. But the government argues that this was a typo, and that they only found $485 on the dresser. Big difference. Ibrahim argued that the government is now judicially estopped from correcting this typo for asset return purposes, since the larger figure was used in his sentencing. But the Ninth rejects this argument. Ibrahim may be entitled to sentencing relief, but he is certainly not entitled to a $484,515 windfall resulting from a typo. Nice try, though.