Treasury Forfeiture Fund 

Program Summary by Budget Activity

Summary 

The Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture (TEOAF) administers the Treasury Forfeiture 

Fund (the Fund), which is the receipt account for deposit of non-tax forfeitures made pursuant to 

laws enforced or administered by participating Department of the Treasury and Department of 

Homeland Security agencies. The Fund was established in 1992. The enabling legislation for the 

Fund (Title 31 U.S.C. 9705) defines the purposes for which Treasury forfeiture revenue may be 

used. 

Explanation of TEOAF Spending Categories 

Mandatory Obligations ($462,060,000 from revenue/offsetting collections)

Mandatory Obligations are incurred to meet the operating costs of the Fund, including expenses 

of storing and maintaining seized and forfeited assets, valid liens and mortgages, investigative 

expenses incurred in pursuing a seizure, information and inventory systems, remissions, victim 

restoration, and certain costs of local police agencies incurred in joint law enforcement operations. 

Following seizure, equitable shares may be paid to state and local law enforcement agencies that 

contributed to the seizure activity at a level proportionate to their involvement. 

TEOAF allocates significant resources to supporting seizure cases in which the seized assets 

represent the proceeds of fraud schemes. The resulting forfeiture deposits are used to compensate 

the victims (entities or individuals) defrauded by the violators. Prioritizing support of these cases 

is particularly important now due to the volume of COVID-19 related financial fraud, network 

intrusion, phishing and sales of counterfeit vaccines and COVID treatments online and via 

Darknet marketplaces. TEOAF provides funding to allow its participating agencies to meet 

unanticipated needs created by COVID-19 related crimes, to ensure that the agencies have the 
resources to target and intercept these massive schemes and return the money to the defrauded 

government agencies, private entities and individuals. 

Secretary's Enforcement Fund ($35,000,000 from revenue/offsetting collections) 

Secretary's Enforcement Fund (SEF) represents revenue from equitable shares received from 

Department of Justice (DOJ) or U.S. Postal Service (USPS) forfeitures. These shares are 

proportional to Treasury’s participation in the overall investigative effort that led to a DOJ or USPS 

forfeiture. SEF revenue is available for federal law enforcement related purposes of any law 

enforcement organization participating in the Fund. 

Strategic Support ($100,000,000 from revenue/offsetting collections) 

Strategic Support authority, established in 31 U.S.C. 9705(g)(4)(B), allows TEOAF to fund 

priority Federal law enforcement initiatives with remaining unobligated balances at the close of 

the fiscal year, after an amount is reserved for the next fiscal year’s operations. 

Contingent Liabilities ($550,000,000 revenue/offsetting collections) 

Contingent liabilities represent the known future equitable sharing, remission, refund, and 

mitigation payments. TEOAF tracks future remission payments to third parties as contingent 

liabilities. However, these amounts are not recorded as obligations from the Fund until the 

Department of Justice grants the petition for remission. The third parties are predominantly victims 

of crimes that triggered the forfeiture (e.g., Ponzi scheme or kleptocracy victims). Amounts 

recorded are significant because remission payments from multiple years are recorded and carried 

forward. The amounts change constantly as payments are made and amounts for new remission 

cases are added. TEOAF considers the amounts recorded as contingent liabilities as unavailable 

and consideration of contingent liabilities provides a more accurate representation of the financial 

position of the Fund. 

Legislative Proposals 

TEOAF has no legislative proposals. 

Performance Highlights 

Description of Performance 

($597,060,000 in obligations from revenue/offsetting collections): 

TEOAF continues to measure the performance of the participating law enforcement bureaus 

through the percent of forfeited cash proceeds resulting from high impact cases which are cases 

resulting in a cash forfeiture deposit equal to or greater than $100,000. 

The high-impact cases are cases that pursue major criminal targets and their financial networks, 

and therefore are central to the mission of disrupting and dismantling criminal enterprises. At the 

same time, these cases are heavily dependent on TEOAF’s funding due to their high operational 

costs and reliance on sophisticated technologies and analytical tools that are not adequately 

Budget Activity FY 2019 

Actual

FY 2020 

Actual

FY 2021 

Actual

FY 2022 

Target

FY 2023 

Target

Asset Forfeiture 90.8 82.87 89.65 80 80

Performance Measure

Percent of Forfeited Cash Proceeds 

Resulting from High-Impact Cases
covered by the funds appropriated for operations. The dominant share of high-impact forfeitures 

reflects TEOAF’s effectiveness in supporting such major investigations. 

While the specific numbers shown in the chart fluctuate due to the unusually big forfeitures, the 

consistently dominant (80 percent or more) share of major forfeiture year after year demonstrates 

TEOAF’s consistent commitment to supporting high-impact cases. Member law enforcement 

bureaus participating in the Fund have met or exceeded the performance target since FY 2014. 

For FY 2022 and FY 2023, the target will remain at 80 percent. The Fund maintains a target of 80 

percent as an appropriate measure of the effectiveness of the Fund support of the participating law 

enforcement agencies efforts to meet TEOAF’s mission to disrupt and dismantle criminal 

enterprises.