Asset Forfeiture Unit
The Asset Forfeiture Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office prosecutes all civil and criminal forfeiture cases. Asset forfeiture is one of the most effective methods of dismantling criminal enterprises and attacking major drug traffickers. In this District, asset forfeiture is used as a law enforcement tool to its fullest appropriate extent to take the profits out of crime and to destroy the economic underpinnings of narcotics and white collar criminal enterprises. Through Department of Justice administrative remission or court-ordered restitution, forfeited assets in fraud prosecutions are often utilized for the benefit of those who have been victimized
The Asset Forfeiture Unit is comprised of one attorney and two paralegals who handle all of the judicial forfeiture cases and provide assistance in administrative forfeitures. The Asset Forfeiture Assistant is a key member of prosecution teams and is involved early during the investigation and prosecution of criminal cases. The first goal of forfeiture is law enforcement to immobilize crime syndicates by depriving them of the instrumentalities of crime and to deter criminal activity by removing the profit from crime. One of the most successful means of attacking criminal organizations is to target the very reason they exist - money. The second goal of the program is to promote law enforcement cooperation at all levels.