Listen to this articleThe Eastern District of New York (EDNY) collected more than $400 million in asset forfeiture last year, according to U.S. Attorney John Durham. With a region that includes Long Island, the EDNY ranked the first among all 93 districts in the nation in asset forfeitures.
Forfeiture funds, according to the U.S. Justice Department, generally result from “warrants and forfeiture orders against illegal proceeds” that are often generated by alleged ill-gotten gains, including through cartels, financial fraud, bribery, cybercrime and more.
“The forfeiture of criminal assets is an important tool used by law enforcement to deter crime and punish wrongdoers by depriving them of their ill-gotten gains,” Durham said in a news release.
“To the extent possible, forfeited funds are used to compensate victims of crime,” Durham said. “That my office collected the largest dollar amount of asset forfeiture of all U.S. Attorney’s Offices is a testament to the hard work and exceptional dedication of our prosecutors and professional staff in carrying out their mission to do justice, compensate victims, and hold defendants accountable for their crimes.”
Critics say that civil forfeiture allows authorities to take someone’s property, without having to prove that it has been acquired by the proceeds of criminal illicit purposes. Critics of the practice describe it as “legalized theft.”
Yet advocates of the program say that the assets can only be seized when it can be determined the gains were acquired through ill-gotten gains.
In addition to compensating crime victims, forfeited funds can be used for law enforcement purposes, the DOJ said. U.S. Attorney’s Offices enforce and collect civil and criminal debts owed to the U.S., and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss. While restitution is paid to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the Justice Department’s Crime Victims Fund, which distributes the funds collected to federal and state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.
Last year, the EDNY also collected more than $333 million in judgments and other debts on behalf of victims and the government.
Among the forfeiture funds collected last year was from Gunvor S.A. (Gunvor), a part of the Gunvor Group, a commodities trading firm. In March 2024, Guvnor pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The charge arose out of a scheme to bribe Ecuadorian officials to obtain contracts to purchase oil products. Following the plea, Gunvor was sentenced to pay more than $374 million and to forfeit more than $287 million in ill-gotten gains, officials said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
