This Week in FCPA-Episode 57, the Father’s Day Edition
Civil forfeiture allows the government — typically police or other law enforcement — to seize and keep or sell property that is allegedly involved in a crime or illegal activity. While civil forfeiture law varies between...more
California Attorney General (AG) Rob Bonta is asking the Los Angeles County Superior Court to enter a civil forfeiture order allowing the state to collect unpaid taxes and fees from an unlicensed marijuana business by seizing...more
For years, tension has existed between federal and state criminal prosecutors over forfeitures. Criminal forfeitures result from the seizure (and, if necessary, the sale) of contraband such as cash from illegal activities or...more
This week, the Court confronted constitutional challenges to a California statute altering the test for determining whether workers are employees or independent contractors and an Arizona statute governing civil forfeitures. ...more
This fall, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument in Timbs v. State of Indiana, one of the most anticipated cases this term. At issue is whether the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against excessive fines applies to state...more
In 2017, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) reported more than $8.2 billion held in its forfeited-assets fund, which is a $600 million increase from the $7.6 billion in the fund in 2016. The cases brought by the government in...more
On June 29, dual trial verdicts in the Southern District of New York paved the way for the government to seize 650 Fifth Avenue, a 36-story building in Manhattan valued at up to $1 billion (“the Property”). The defendants,...more
Elizabeth Young is a 72-year-old grandmother whose home and car the government sought to forfeit based on several relatively minor drug sales her adult son conducted out of the house and car. Young fought the forfeiture and...more
In this post, we consider the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General report (OIG Report), released on March 29, 2017, evaluating the DOJ’s oversight of its cash seizure and forfeiture operations. This...more
Forfeiture actions by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS CI) based on alleged structuring activity have come under fire, yet again. Specifically, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA)...more
On April 14, 2016, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York filed a civil forfeiture action seeking to recover nearly $100 million stolen from an unidentified U.S. company through a form of wire fraud or...more
On December 21, 2015 the United States Department of Justice suspended the Equitable Sharing Program in which state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies can obtain a portion of the assets they have seized (either as...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently issued a memorandum ("The Yates memo") on September 9, 2015 by Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, reaffirming the Government's commitment to prosecuting individuals. Say...more