Los Angeles Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

One legal tool authorities use to fight crime is asset seizure and asset forfeiture. Federal and California forfeiture laws allow the government/law enforcement to seize personal property and assets believed to be connected to criminal activity. This can be a highly controversial action, because it may affect more than the alleged criminals. It could do harm to their families as well. It is also a challenge to prove what items were and were not purchased using money from illegal activities. For example, police have attempted to claim the houses of those who are committing crimes, and the burden of proving what money was used on the house purchase is placed on the defense.

In a legal move that city officials characterized as the first of its kind in the state, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's office has secured a $5 million civil judgment against the Downtown-based Fifth and Hill gang. It allows the city to try to seize $4.2 million in gang members' ill-gotten assets; the remaining $800,000 does not need to be tied to illegal activities.

The latter part of the action stems from Senate Bill 1126, which allows prosecutors to collect assets not linked to criminal activity from any named gang members. The regulation essentially allows the city to treat gangs as businesses, Delgadillo said at a press conference at Pershing Square on Tuesday, Jan. 13. "Just because Fifth and Hill doesn't have articles of incorporation, it doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to treat them the way we treat bad corporations," Delgadillo said. City Attorney officials said the $5 million judgment represents a conservative estimate of the costs incurred over the last 20 years by the city and businesses, mainly in graffiti removal and security, as the result of the gang's activities. The gang had long used Pershing Square for its heroin sales in the area, Delgadillo said. Those activities have been significantly handcuffed since the city secured an injunction against the gang last February, police officials said.

There are other major controversies to asset seizure, including:

• The police can take any possession (house, car, boat, jewelry, cash) without paying for it, even if you haven't been charged with a crime.


• They can keep your property for as long as they want, and they basically write the rules for how to get that property back (if you can at all).


• Generally, under California law, you would have 30 days to respond to a notice of seizure or notice of forfeiture proceedings. If you do not respond in that time period, you may not even have a chance to fight for the property the government is threatening to take away.

Federal and state law enforcement officials often utilize asset seizure and forfeiture in drug matters. U.S. Marshals utilize asset seizure and forfeiture to enforce the law, improve law enforcement cooperation and enhance law enforcement through revenue.

In 1984, Congress enacted the Comprehensive Crime Control Act, which gave federal prosecutors new forfeiture provisions to combat crime. Also created by this legislation was the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund (AFF). The proceeds from the sale of forfeited assets such as real property, vehicles, businesses, financial instruments, vessels, aircraft and jewelry are deposited into the AFF and are subsequently used to further law enforcement initiatives.

Law enforcement can seize your house, car, boat, jewelry and cash, without paying for it, even if you haven't been charged with a crime. The economy though has caused some law enforcement agencies to drop the asset seizure/forfeiture program. In Detroit, where the community has been hit hard by the real estate crash, asset seizure/forfeiture is being abandoned.

Federal prosecutors twice pursued a former autoworker suspected of running a multimillion-dollar drug operation. The first attempt fizzled when one man died shortly after an indictment. The second? Blame it on the collapse of Detroit's real-estate market.The government recently abandoned a plan to sell nearly three dozen properties (seized by law enforcement officials) -- land, houses and strip malls -- believed to have been acquired by Carson through heroin, marijuana and cocaine sales. "The market tanked," Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Ziedas said. "If we were able to effectively market these and come up with some kind of return, we would have done it."

Asset forfeiture is a term used to describe the confiscation of assets, by the State, which are either (a) the proceeds of crime or (b) the instrumentalities of crime. Instrumentalities of crime are property that was used to facilitate crime, for example cars used to transport illegal narcotics. The terminology used in different jurisdictions varies. Some jurisdictions use the term "confiscation" instead of forfeiture.

The police can take your house, car, boat, jewelry and cash, without paying for it, even if you haven't been charged with a crime. They can keep your property for as long as they want. You'll need to file a claim to try and get it back.

Generally under California law, you have 30 days to respond to a notice of seizure or notice of forfeiture proceedings. If you don't respond within 30 days, you may not even have a chance to fight for the property the government is threatening to take away.

California Lawyer, the magazine of the California Bar Association, reported that many police departments in California have become dependent on drug-related seizures for items of basic budget. In the simplest terms, if the police do not make enough seizures, then police officers will lose their jobs. In fact, it has been reported that the vast majority of seizures are of property worth less than $50,000, and is made from ordinary citizens who are never charged with a crime.

In June, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law making it easier for prosecutors to seize assets of gang members. The bill, SB 1126, expands a law passed last year that allows prosecutors to seek monetary damages from gangs that cause damage to neighborhoods. A provision in the earlier law that said the seized assets had to be "derived from" the gang's criminal activities proved an impediment to prosecutors.

The revision allows the seizure of any gang members' assets, not just assets that the gangs obtained illegally, to cover the cost of damage they caused.

Remember the early Punk'd episode where Justin Timberlake returns home to find Ashton Kutcher's bogus sheriff's deputies loading his possessions into a moving van? He freaked when he was told all his property was being seized. What may have made for funny television viewing, isn't at all humorous when it happens in real life. Property seizure and asset forfeiture can leave you with nothing -- no house, no car, no cash.

Under both federal and California laws, the government can seize personal property and assets believed to be connected to criminal activity. Even if you haven't been charged with a crime, the police can confiscate your house, your car, your boat, your jewelry and your cash. They don't have to pay you for it, and they can keep your property for as long as they want.

In California, if you don't respond to a notice of seizure or notice of forfeiture proceedings within 30 days, the government can take your property and you might never be able to get it back. Just to try to get your property returned, you have to file a claim.

The purpose of the forfeiture and seizure laws is to deter crime by taking the profit out of it. Originally aimed at organized crime, federal and state forfeiture and seizure laws are also used to target those suspected of committing drug crimes, tax evasion, money laundering, forgery and pornography. In fact, federal laws define more than 100 forfeiture categories. A number of the forfeiture laws specifically target drug trafficking and the use of land for the cultivation of drug plants.

If your property is seized, you need to hire a skilled criminal defense attorney to fight back. Often rental property or land owners don't realize that illegal activity is taking place on their property, yet their property can still be seized. Innocent buyers may unwittingly purchase illegally obtained possessions that can be summarily taken by police.

You do have recourse. Under third-party innocent owner exemptions, an experienced seizure and forfeiture attorney can argue that you had no knowledge of illegal activities. It is up to the prosecutor to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the property owner was aware of any illegal activity. You can get your property returned, but in matters of asset forfeiture and property seizure, you have to act fast.

-LegalPro