A Glendale small business owner filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the agencies that raided his store 20 months ago, saying they took his property and then went silent.
Mario Ayala, owner of Ayala’s Mini Market, is asking a federal court to order the IRS and Homeland Security Investigations to return what agents seized in February 2025. His attorneys with the Institute for Justice say the government never told him what he allegedly did wrong or how to get his property back.
The store is a neighborhood convenience store that also operates as a money services business, offering check cashing and money transfers. Ayala was out of the country caring for his ailing father when agents raided it. His attorneys say it was one of 19 Phoenix-area money services businesses targeted that month…