Asset Forfeiture

An Update Gao ID: T-GGD-89-17 April 24, 1989

GAO discussed how the Customs Service and the Department of Justice (DOJ) could more quickly process seized assets. GAO noted that: (1) such seized assets as cash and real estate have increased by 3,200 percent since 1979, now totalling $1.1 billion; (2) both Customs and DOJ used their asset forfeiture funds to finance program expenses, share with state and local law enforcement agencies, and fund drug enforcement activities; (3) judicial forfeiture, required for seized cash amounts over $100,000, took longer than administrative forfeiture; (4) no one contested 89 percent of judicially forfeited cash, resulting in default judgments; (5) neither DOJ nor Customs had policies on how long transfer of seized assets to forfeiture funds should take, and frequently took more than 30 days to accomplish transfer; and (6) property equity, value, and title problems made disposal of forfeited real estate time-consuming and unprofitable.

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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