Asset Forfeiture

In operating the asset forfeiture sharing program, the U.S. Marshals Service processes payments totalling hundreds of millions of dollars annually. In several instances, the districts GAO visited lacked adequate internal controls over sharing payments to ensure that assets were adequately protected. Department of Justice guidance over asset sharing payment processing is subject to interpretation by individual Marshals Service districts, which can lead to differing procedures that may not adequately safeguard forfeited funds. Although GAO's review was limited to two districts--the Central and Southern Districts of California--Justice's Inspector General found similar problems, including inadequate separation of duties and improperly processed invoices, in a representative sample of districts. GAO believes that the Central and Southern Districts should be told to strengthen their internal controls and the Southern District directed to change its policy over how sharing checks are made payable. Further, clear and specific guidance based on established internal control standards should be developed and distributed to all districts processing sharing payments. GAO doubts whether general instructions or reminders to follow existing guidance will prevent staff interpretations.

GAO found that: (1) internal control weaknesses at the Marshals Service Central and Southern Districts of California made cash obtained from asset forfeitures vulnerable to loss and misuse; (2) each district followed its own locally established procedures for preparing and distributing checks to state and local law enforcement agencies; (3) district officers may not be able to detect erroneous or fraudulent payments because they do not adequately separate duties among staff or properly certify payment vouchers; (4) the risk of loss or unauthorized use of cash was further increased because neither district forwarded checks directly to the recipient state or local agencies; (5) one district made checks payable to state and local officials rather than to the government entities they represented; and (6) the DOJ Inspector General identified similar control problems in its audit of the sharing program.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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