> Have you heard of parallel construction? Perhaps he and his wife had discussed the cash in private messages.

That's why I said they had some other reason to think he had cash.

> If he did this (and he may have done) why do you think they would give him his money back?

As the article explained, if he can provide evidence of how he came by the money legally, he gets it back. Otherwise the federal government is breaking the law, no?