Reward for Reporting $6.22-Million in Abandoned Loot : Investment in Honesty Pays $75,000 Dividends

Two airport rental car company employees have been given $75,000 each by the federal government for reporting a $6.22-million stash of cash, gold and platinum they found two years ago. They were praised for their “moral courage.”

Uncle Sam kept the rest of the cash and abandoned loot, which were believed to have either been used or was meant to be used for an illegal drug deal.

The fortune included about $5 million in cash. The gold coins and platinum bars were sold in a 1986 auction, bringing the total value of the seizure to $6.22 million.

The two Budget Rent-A-Car employees on Oct. 23, 1984, found the loot in luggage in the trunk of an abandoned rental car in a long-term parking lot at San Francisco International Airport.

U.S. Atty. Joseph Russoniello gave $75,000 checks from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to each of the employees in a brief ceremony Wednesday.

Ann Kamali, 32, a Budget Rent-A-Car manager, said she will use her reward to make a down payment on a house. Nelson Garrett, 27, now unemployed, said he will invest his money.

They are the first to collect under the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, which allows up to $150,000 in reward for private citizens who help in the seizure of drug-related money, officials said.

They filed finders’ claims for the entire stash. But U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti ruled that the federal government could confiscate the money because fresh cocaine residue was found in one suitcase and the money was apparently used or was intended for a cocaine deal.

The man who rented the car has never been caught.