United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, June 27, 2009.

“ As an additional matter, the Government has not shown that Eric Hovind’s legal interest in 23 Cummings Road had not vested at the time the crimes charged in the indictment were committed. Section 853 (n) (6) (A) , which applies to substitute and nonsubstitute property, provides that forfeiture does not apply to a third-party claimant whose title was vested in him rather than in the defendants at the time the defendants committed the acts giving rise to the forfeiture. ”

“ Stoll has not shown he played anything more than a titular role in the trusts he created, and the court finds he was a nominee title holder for Kent and Jo Hovind. “A person cannot have a vested interest in property if he is found to be acting as a nominee for persons whose property is subject to the forfeiture.” ”

“ According to Stoll, answering these questions was a faith-based political statement that gave rise to “a lawfully established unincorporated association of pure trust.” Government’s Ex. CC at attachment 25. This generalized trust, in turn, was said to create a “ministerial trust” once it was reduced to written form. Stoll claimed his ministerial trusts provided a way to manage a ministry’s assets, including the ability to hold and manage assets on a tax-free basis. The latter arrangement required associating each ministerial trust with a corporation sole created
under Washington law. ”

“ Florida law is clear that real property can be transferred as a gift without consideration. See Chase Fed. Sav. and Loan Ass’n v. Schreiber, 479 So.2d 90, 100-01 (Fla. 1985) . To be complete, an inter vivos gift requires a donor to deliver the gift property to the donee and relinquish control over it. See Ritter v. Shamas, 452 So.2d 1057, 1059 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984) . Eric Hovind had sufficient possession of the 23 Cummings Road to build a home on it, and no evidence suggests Kent or Jo Hovind retained any control over the property. ”

“ Glenn Stoll and
Eric Hovind filed a combined response (doc. 315) . After carefully considering the Government’s motion and the claimants’ response, the court finds the Motion for Summary Judgment should be granted in part and denied in part.
BACKGROUND
Kent Hovind and his wife, Jo Hovind, were the owners of Creation Science Evangelism (“CSE”) , a nondenominational religious organization advocating the message of creation science and opposing the theory of evolution. Located in Pensacola, Florida, CSE sold videos and books, hosted debates, and provided lectures across the United States. ”

“ No evidence suggests Stoll played any role in managing the trusts’ properties, nor has Stoll shown that his inaction was proper because the trusts’ language somehow limited his power as trustee. A trustee has broad powers under The Florida Uniform Trustees’ Power Act, including the right to maintain buildings, insure property, and enter lease agreements. See Fla. Stat. § 737.402. As shown above, the Hovinds assumed these powers at the expense of Stoll’s role as trustee. ”

“ Remedies at Law was incorporated under Oklahoma law in 1994 and has its principal place of business in Edmonds, Washington.↑ “A corporation sole is composed of a series of natural persons who, one after another, hold the office of the religious leader of the particular religious organization.” ”

“ Director of the Firm Foundation, the corporation sole acting as trustee for the ministerial trust, CSE Foundation, which holds nominal title to: a. the 116 Cummings Road property; b. the 100 Cummings Road property, c. the 120 Oleander Drive property, d. the 12 Oleander Drive property; and e. the Wachovia Bank account. Standard of Review
Third party proceedings ancillary to a criminal forfeiture prosecution are governed by 21 U.S.C. § 853 (n) and are civil in nature. ”

“ See Fleet, 498 F.3d at 1231. Although the Government has not provided guidance on this issue, Florida law presumes that the person whose name appears on a legal title is the property’s owner. Hagopian v. Zimmer, 653 So.2d 474, 475 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995) . This presumption is rebuttable. Morales v. Coca-Cola Co., 813 So.2d 162, 166 n.2 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002) . Courts in this circuit will look to who has dominion and control over Florida property in deciding true ownership. See A Single Family Residence Located at 900 ”

“ With these entities in place, the Hovinds began a complex process of transferring nine of the ten real properties at issue in this forfeiture proceeding to various ministerial trusts. [6] Five were conveyed to trusts specifically created for each of the properties. These included properties located at 5720 North Palafox Highway, 5800 North Old Palafox Street , 21 Cummings Road, 29 Cummings Road, and 400 Cummings Road (“the five individual trust properties”) . [7] Four were conveyed to the
CSE Foundation. ”