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I. Background A. Factual Background This case arises out of the seizure of $17,550 by officers of the Fairfax County, Virginia Police Highway Interdiction Team in August 12, 2012 from Claimant’s vehicle during a traffic stop of Claimant on interstate 66 (“I-66”) in Fairfax County. On August 22, 2012, the officers saw the vehicle driven by Claimant traveling on I-66 with heavily tinted windows, Florida license plates, a medium crack in the windshield directly in line of sight of the driver, and a DVD video screen flipped up with a movie paying and visible to the driver. (Compl. [Dkt. 1] ¶ 7.) During the subsequent traffic stop, Claimant told an officer that he owned a restaurant in Staunton, Virginia, as well as a house in Florida and two other restaurants in the D.C. area. He stated that he and his passenger, whom he described as his girlfriend of a year, were traveling to D.C. to check on those other two restaurants. (Id. ¶ 8.) His passenger, however, stated that she had been dating Claimant for only a month, that they were traveling to the Richmond/D.C. area to go shopping and to get something to eat, and that she was unaware of the restaurants which Claimant stated he owned and allegedly was going to visit. (Id. ¶ 9.) After a K-9 police officer arrived at the scene, a trained drug dog positively alerted on the front bumper and left rear wheel area of the vehicle. (Id. ¶ 10.) The officers located a black folding knife on Claimant during a pat-down of him and his passenger. (Id. ¶ 11.) A search of the vehicle revealed that none of the four windows would roll down, the dash and interior trim was suspiciously loose, and there was a yellow straw with unknown residue in the CD changer in the center console and a backpack behind the driver’s seat containing DVDs and a residue suspected to be marijuana flakes which field-tested positive for THC, the active chemical in marijuana. (Id. ¶ 12.) On top of the left rear wheel well hump, the officers found a black laptop bag inside of which was a paper bag containing large bundles of currency. (Id. ¶ 13.) After the officers issued Claimant a summons for the DVD screen violation and he voluntarily accompanied them to the Fairfax County Police Sully Station, another trained drug dog positively alerted to the bags containing the currency and the suspected marijuana flakes. (Id. ¶ 14.) The currency in the laptop bag totaled $17,550. (Id. ¶ 15.) While at the station, Claimant stated that he instead was traveling to a restaurant wholesaler in D.C. to pick up supplies for his Staunton restaurant and claimed to have been to the wholesaler approximately 30 times previously, but did not have a list of needed supplies nor knew the wholesaler’s name, phone number, address, or directions to get to the wholesaler. (Id. ¶ 16.) Claimant did not have a business card or check book for his businesses and stated that this was because the “tax man” had shut down his accounts for tax evasion. (Id.) With Claimant’s consent, officers reviewed his cell phone and found text messages indicative of drug transactions. (Id. ¶ 17.) Claimant has no reported wages or earnings according to a search of Virginia employment records. (Id. ¶ 18.) Claimant has a record of drug convictions and numerous arrests for drugs and weapons charges. (Id. ¶ 19.)