A federal judge has closed the case of the former owner of an Austintown addiction treatment facility more than three years after a federal raid without ordering the government to unseal its justification for the raid.


It was October of 2021 when federal authorities raided the California Palms for an investigation they would only describe as "healthcare-related."


The owner of the Palms, attorney Sebastian Rucci, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and fought the case in federal court, arguing the search was baseless.


Authorities also seized $603,902.82 from Rucci.


The California Palms, which court filings indicate had 100 patients and 50 employees at the time of the raid, has since closed.


In September of 2024, Judge John Adams ruled the case against California Palms should be dismissed "without prejudice," meaning the case could be refiled in the future.


Adams also ordered at that time that the funds that were seized be returned to Rucci with interest, which has since happened.


Rucci, however, filed an objection to the order, arguing that returning the funds was not enough and that the government should be compelled to unseal affidavits they were using to justify the seizure in the first place.


In a court filing from October, Rucci wrote: "The facility's funds were seized with wild allegations based on the hope that something would turn up to justify the forfeiture. This is not how a seizure of an active treatment facility happens in the United States, maybe China, but not the United States. The protections that should have prevented this were overlooked."


On Friday, December 6, though, Judge Adams closed the case without ordering that evidence unsealed, saying it would be a separate legal matter.


"There is no basis to allow this litigation to move forward when there is no further relieft that Plaintiff can obtain from the Government. Plaintiff's desire to perhaps hold a third party responsible for the seizure is insufficient to maintain a case in controversy to continue to invoke this Court's jurisdiction," Adams wrote.


In response to the ruling, Rucci told 21 News:

"The closure of the Plams by seizing its funds was undertaken in secrecy three years ago. Its continued secrecy today screams of injustice. If the Government can keep the affidavit secret, even after admitting it lacked evidence, the continued secrecy would allow the abuse to go unpunished. This is hardly American. It is unconstitutional to the core, and there is nothing like it in legal history.  I will press on confident that this abuse cannot end in secrecy. I will file a lawsuit against the federal and state (OhioMHAS) governments and logically infer that the secrecy was wrong when it started. The continued secrecy three years later requires a jury to review this and determine if damages are appropriate."