Justice Management Division...Serving Justice - Securing Results

U.S. Department of Justice Seized Asset Deposit Fund Overview

The SADF was created administratively by the Department of Justice to ensure positive control over and security of funds seized by agencies participating in the Department’s asset forfeiture program. Public Law (P.L.) 102-140, dated October 28, 1991, provided authority for the investment of SADF monies. The SADF serves as a repository for seized funds that are not the property of the Government. The SADF holds seized cash, the proceeds of any pre-forfeiture sale of seized property, and forfeited cash not yet transferred to the Asset Forfeiture Fund (AFF). The income and expenses from operating businesses under seizure may also be managed through the SADF. Because most funds held in the SADF are not Government property, funds in the SADF cannot be spent for law enforcement purposes of the Department. The SADF is a dynamic fund. At any given time, there are several thousand cash seizures resident in the SADF in various stages of the forfeiture process. During any accounting period, several hundred accounting transactions occur that affect the balance of the SADF. The majority of these transactions involve the deposit of new seizures into the SADF or the withdrawal of funds from the SADF for deposit or return. The funds are transferred from the SADF for deposit to the AFF upon the successful conclusion of a forfeiture action.