CD2U - Cigarettes Direct To You I placed an order with this company on December 7th, 2009. $248.56 was deducted from our checking account the same day. One week later I called them and listened to a recording saying they were no lon Louisville, Kentucky

An online cigarette dealer is contesting federal search warrants that it says "decimated" the business by confiscating all inventory, supplies and bank accounts.

Chavez Inc., a Louisville, Ky.-based tobacco dealer, is asking a federal judge to unseal affidavits backing at least 20 search warrants, which were executed Dec. 8 on the company's Louisville, Stockton and Denver offices and on multiple banks where the business held accounts.

The company, run by Israel Chavez of Louisville and his ex-wife, Pam Chavez of Stockton, said the warrants, executed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives and U.S. Postal Service inspectors, effectively shut down the business.

Christie Moore, a Louisville attorney representing Chavez Inc., said the owners were "shocked and saddened" by the search and seizures.

"Chavez Inc. intends to challenge the government's unwarranted actions and hopes to once again open its doors, service its customers and provide employment to its employees," Moore said.

Moore said in court filings that federal investigators seized $4 million in tobacco products, along with the company's computers, business records, cars and bank accounts.

Moore said no indictment is expected until May or June at the earliest.

"Substantially all of the personal and business assets of Petitioners are now in the hands of the government," Moore said in the motion.

The federal government has cracked down in recent years on contraband cigarettes - those sold by people and businesses through illegitimate channels to avoid paying local, state and federal taxes. The company's Web site says it is "no longer conducting business." The Department of Justice, the ATF's parent agency, estimates that federal, state and local governments lose out on $5 billion annually in tax revenue from cigarettes sold through illegitimate channels.

In the motion, Moore said what is publicly known about the warrants is insufficient to justify the search and seizure of her clients' property.

"Indeed, the warrants contain nothing more than boilerplate language claiming that sealing the affidavits is necessary due to the potential that other co-conspirators may be identified," Moore wrote.