Feds agree to return some cash to film critic

Federal prosecutors have agreed to return $5,880 to Elvis Mitchell, nearly half the $12,000 seized by border agents in April. A judge signed the deal this week.

Mitchell was entering Detroit in a cab from Canada when most of the money was discovered in a cigar box. Anyone carrying more than $10,000 into the U.S. must report it.

Mitchell said it was a mistake not to disclose the cash at the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. He claimed to have grabbed the wrong cigar box when he left New York for Toronto on the first leg of his trip.

"If we believed it was from an unlawful source, or intended for an unlawful purpose, we would not have settled the case," Assistant U.S. Attorney Rita Foley said Thursday.

She declined to discuss how the government settled on 49 percent for Mitchell.

Mitchell has been a film critic for The New York Times and NPR, among others. He produced a recent HBO documentary on influential black Americans, "The Black List, Vol. 1."

A phone message and e-mail seeking comment were left with Mitchell and his attorney, W. Otis Culpepper.

During interviews with officers April 26, Mitchell twice said he had only $80 with him and then said he was traveling with $6,000, according to the government.

Border officers also seized 15 Cuban cigars, which are illegal to import.