H. R. 1658
One Hundred Sixth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
the twenty-fourth day of January, two thousand
An Act
To provide a more just and uniform procedure for Federal civil forfeitures, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Civil Asset
Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for this Act
is as follows:
Sec.
1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec.
2. Creation of general rules relating to civil forfeiture proceedings.
Sec.
3. Compensation for damage to seized property.
Sec.
4. Attorney fees, costs, and interest.
Sec.
5. Seizure warrant requirement.
Sec.
6. Use of forfeited funds to pay restitution to crime victims.
Sec.
7. Civil forfeiture of real property.
Sec.
8. Stay of civil forfeiture case.
Sec.
9. Civil restraining orders.
Sec. 10. Cooperation among Federal prosecutors.
Sec. 11. Statute of limitations for civil forfeiture actions.
Sec. 12. Destruction or removal of property to prevent seizure.
Sec. 13. Fungible property in bank accounts.
Sec. 14. Fugitive disentitlement.
Sec. 15. Enforcement of foreign forfeiture judgment.
Sec. 16. Encouraging use of criminal forfeiture as an alternative to civil forfeiture.
Sec. 17. Access to records in bank secrecy jurisdictions.
Sec. 18. Application to alien smuggling offenses.
Sec. 19. Enhanced visibility of the asset forfeiture program.
Sec. 20. Proceeds.
Sec. 21. Effective date.
SEC. 2. CREATION OF GENERAL RULES RELATING TO CIVIL FOR-
FEITURE PROCEEDINGS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 46 of title 18, United States Code,
is amended by inserting after section 982 the following:
‘‘§ 983. General rules for civil forfeiture proceedings
‘‘(a) NOTICE; CLAIM; COMPLAINT.—
‘‘(1)(A)(i) Except as provided in clauses (ii) through (v),
in any nonjudicial civil forfeiture proceeding under a civil for-
feiture statute, with respect to which the Government is
required to send written notice to interested parties, such notice
shall be sent in a manner to achieve proper notice as soon
as practicable, and in no case more than 60 days after the
date of the seizure.
‘‘(ii) No notice is required if, before the 60-day period
expires, the Government files a civil judicial forfeiture action
H. R. 1658—2
against the property and provides notice of that action as
required by law.
‘‘(iii) If, before the 60-day period expires, the Government
does not file a civil judicial forfeiture action, but does obtain
a criminal indictment containing an allegation that the property
is subject to forfeiture, the Government shall either—
‘‘(I) send notice within the 60 days and continue the
nonjudicial civil forfeiture proceeding under this section;
or
‘‘(II) terminate the nonjudicial civil forfeiture pro-
ceeding, and take the steps necessary to preserve its right
to maintain custody of the property as provided in the
applicable criminal forfeiture statute.
‘‘(iv) In a case in which the property is seized by a State
or local law enforcement agency and turned over to a Federal
law enforcement agency for the purpose of forfeiture under
Federal law, notice shall be sent not more than 90 days after
the date of seizure by the State or local law enforcement agency.
‘‘(v) If the identity or interest of a party is not determined
until after the seizure or turnover but is determined before
a declaration of forfeiture is entered, notice shall be sent to
such interested party not later than 60 days after the deter-
mination by the Government of the identity of the party or
the party’s interest.
‘‘(B) A supervisory official in the headquarters office of
the seizing agency may extend the period for sending notice
under subparagraph (A) for a period not to exceed 30 days
(which period may not be further extended except by a court),
if the official determines that the conditions in subparagraph
(D) are present.
‘‘(C) Upon motion by the Government, a court may extend
the period for sending notice under subparagraph (A) for a
period not to exceed 60 days, which period may be further
extended by the court for 60-day periods, as necessary, if the
court determines, based on a written certification of a super-
visory official in the headquarters office of the seizing agency,
that the conditions in subparagraph (D) are present.
‘‘(D) The period for sending notice under this paragraph
may be extended only if there is reason to believe that notice
may have an adverse result, including—
‘‘(i) endangering the life or physical safety of an indi-
vidual;
‘‘(ii) flight from prosecution;
‘‘(iii) destruction of or tampering with evidence;
‘‘(iv) intimidation of potential witnesses; or
‘‘(v) otherwise seriously jeopardizing an investigation
or unduly delaying a trial.
‘‘(E) Each of the Federal seizing agencies conducting non-
judicial forfeitures under this section shall report periodically
to the Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representa-
tives and the Senate the number of occasions when an extension
of time is granted under subparagraph (B).
‘‘(F) If the Government does not send notice of a seizure
of property in accordance with subparagraph (A) to the person
from whom the property was seized, and no extension of time
is granted, the Government shall return the property to that
person without prejudice to the right of the Government to
H. R. 1658—3
commence a forfeiture proceeding at a later time. The Govern-
ment shall not be required to return contraband or other prop-
erty that the person from whom the property was seized may
not legally possess.
‘‘(2)(A) Any person claiming property seized in a nonjudicial
civil forfeiture proceeding under a civil forfeiture statute may
file a claim with the appropriate official after the seizure.
‘‘(B) A claim under subparagraph (A) may be filed not
later than the deadline set forth in a personal notice letter
(which deadline may be not earlier than 35 days after the
date the letter is mailed), except that if that letter is not
received, then a claim may be filed not later than 30 days
after the date of final publication of notice of seizure.
‘‘(C) A claim shall—
‘‘(i) identify the specific property being claimed;
‘‘(ii) state the claimant’s interest in such property (and
provide customary documentary evidence of such interest
if available) and state that the claim is not frivolous; and
‘‘(iii) be made under oath, subject to penalty of perjury.
‘‘(D) A claim need not be made in any particular form.
Each Federal agency conducting nonjudicial forfeitures under
this section shall make claim forms generally available on
request, which forms shall be written in easily understandable
language.
‘‘(E) Any person may make a claim under subparagraph
(A) without posting bond with respect to the property which
is the subject of the claim.
‘‘(3)(A) Not later than 90 days after a claim has been
filed, the Government shall file a complaint for forfeiture in
the manner set forth in the Supplemental Rules for Certain
Admiralty and Maritime Claims or return the property pending
the filing of a complaint, except that a court in the district
in which the complaint will be filed may extend the period
for filing a complaint for good cause shown or upon agreement
of the parties.
‘‘(B) If the Government does not—
‘‘(i) file a complaint for forfeiture or return the property,
in accordance with subparagraph (A); or
‘‘(ii) before the time for filing a complaint has expired—
‘‘(I) obtain a criminal indictment containing an
allegation that the property is subject to forfeiture;
and
‘‘(II) take the steps necessary to preserve its right
to maintain custody of the property as provided in
the applicable criminal forfeiture statute,
the Government shall promptly release the property pursuant
to regulations promulgated by the Attorney General, and may
not take any further action to effect the civil forfeiture of
such property in connection with the underlying offense.
‘‘(C) In lieu of, or in addition to, filing a civil forfeiture
complaint, the Government may include a forfeiture allegation
in a criminal indictment. If criminal forfeiture is the only
forfeiture proceeding commenced by the Government, the
Government’s right to continued possession of the property
shall be governed by the applicable criminal forfeiture statute.
‘‘(D) No complaint may be dismissed on the ground that
the Government did not have adequate evidence at the time
H. R. 1658—4
the complaint was filed to establish the forfeitability of the
property.
‘‘(4)(A) In any case in which the Government files in the
appropriate United States district court a complaint for for-
feiture of property, any person claiming an interest in the
seized property may file a claim asserting such person’s interest
in the property in the manner set forth in the Supplemental
Rules for Certain Admiralty and Maritime Claims, except that
such claim may be filed not later than 30 days after the
date of service of the Government’s complaint or, as applicable,
not later than 30 days after the date of final publication of
notice of the filing of the complaint.
‘‘(B) A person asserting an interest in seized property,
in accordance with subparagraph (A), shall file an answer to
the Government’s complaint for forfeiture not later than 20
days after the date of the filing of the claim.
‘‘(b) REPRESENTATION.—
‘‘(1)(A) If a person with standing to contest the forfeiture
of property in a judicial civil forfeiture proceeding under a
civil forfeiture statute is financially unable to obtain representa-
tion by counsel, and the person is represented by counsel
appointed under section 3006A of this title in connection with
a related criminal case, the court may authorize counsel to
represent that person with respect to the claim.
‘‘(B) In determining whether to authorize counsel to rep-
resent a person under subparagraph (A), the court shall take
into account such factors as—
‘‘(i) the person’s standing to contest the forfeiture; and
‘‘(ii) whether the claim appears to be made in good
faith.
‘‘(2)(A) If a person with standing to contest the forfeiture
of property in a judicial civil forfeiture proceeding under a
civil forfeiture statute is financially unable to obtain representa-
tion by counsel, and the property subject to forfeiture is real
property that is being used by the person as a primary resi-
dence, the court, at the request of the person, shall insure
that the person is represented by an attorney for the Legal
Services Corporation with respect to the claim.
‘‘(B)(i) At appropriate times during a representation under
subparagraph (A), the Legal Services Corporation shall submit
a statement of reasonable attorney fees and costs to the court.
‘‘(ii) The court shall enter a judgment in favor of the Legal
Services Corporation for reasonable attorney fees and costs
submitted pursuant to clause (i) and treat such judgment as
payable under section 2465 of title 28, United States Code,
regardless of the outcome of the case.
‘‘(3) The court shall set the compensation for representation
under this subsection, which shall be equivalent to that pro-
vided for court-appointed representation under section 3006A
of this title.
‘‘(c) BURDEN OF PROOF.—In a suit or action brought under
any civil forfeiture statute for the civil forfeiture of any property—
‘‘(1) the burden of proof is on the Government to establish,
by a preponderance of the evidence, that the property is subject
to forfeiture;