Matthew Ryan Smith, owner of Rythmatic Enterprises, claims the business and his personal reputation suffered after police removed him in handcuffs from the Salt Lake International Airport Aug. 14, 2003, according to his lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court last week.

Smith, 27, is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. The action names the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, Drug Enforcement Administration and Marshal Service and the Salt Lake City police, whose officers detained Smith until DEA agents arrived.

The U.S. Attorney's Office represents all of the federal agencies in court. Spokeswoman Melodie Rydalch declined comment, saying the office had not yet seen the suit.

Smith's attorney, Marianne McGregor Guelker, said he was never charged with a crime.

In the court documents, Smith, a glassblower and artist, claims that when he was detained, he had been traveling to Seattle to attend various art festivals to purchase gems, minerals, glass supplies and finished art for his business.

A TSA agent told Smith that she was required by policy to contact police when large sums of money are discovered among a passenger's effects.

A Salt Lake police officer contacted DEA agents, who over the telephone began an inquiry, telling him, ''If you're going to play hard with me, I'm going to come and seize your money,'' and ''It'll take your lawyer at least a year to get it back,'' the court documents state.

Smith said he was detained and questioned for four hours, was not allowed to watch police handle and count his money, was made to turn over his wallet and car keys and was put off when he asked on three occasions to contact an attorney.

Smith alleges that agents searched his vehicle without his permission and that a dog trained to sniff out drugs was coaxed into a reaction to Smith's money.

The suit also says Smith was made to sign a receipt for his seized funds, even though that receipt contained no statement of the items taken or their value.

Smith was never charged with a state or federal crime, although federal agents held his money for more than nine months, and the money returned to him was a few thousand dollars short of the total he was carrying, court documents state.

Concerns that asset seizures were used against innocent property owners were among reasons Utah voters approved Initiative B in 2000, which, among other things, diverted the profits from the seizures to schools instead of police agencies.

This year, the Legislature repealed key provisions of the initiative, redirecting the profits to law enforcement and also providing some new restrictions and conditions.