[BeefWellington]

Banks pretty well everywhere have long had the ability to freeze funds for a variety of offenses without due process.

It's usually sold as a benefit to the consumer (it protects against fraud is the usual claim) but this isn't new. All kinds of transactions can trip automated detection systems leading to account freezes.

I agree that without a court order it's shady but it's not as though this is really that new. The primary change in the legislation is pushing banks to freeze and report the accounts to the agency responsible for dealing with money laundering.

Do I agree with it? Not entirely. However it's not a new thing and exists in widespread use in most of the world in one form or other.