Asset forfeiture is a wonderful tool in combatting terrorist financing. By causing those who provide funds for terrorist organizations to hand over their wealth to the US government in a criminal investigation or after sentencing, we are able to use the funds that would once be funneled into causing suffering throughout the world into helping in the chase to catch those who would use it for evil. Currently there are court rulings all over the US, like U.S. v. Angiulo, which define the laws of the gray area of asset forfeiture. For instance, in the Angiulo case a court can order defendants to fork over their interests or the entirety of a company as well as any other financial holdings whether directly or indirectly involved in criminal proceedings within an investigation. In asset forfeiture there are three main types of this handover and they include administrative, criminal and civil forfeiture.
In administrative forfeiture the law enforcement agency which acquired the assets in the first place, either physically or otherwise, then send out a notice to all those with an interest in the defendants estate as well as to the public on a whole, saying that they are seizing the assets indefinitely and handing them over to the United States Federal government for use. Typically, this type of forfeiture goes uncontested and is more like a form of abandonment than anything else. After a set time period, in which the assets go unclaimed, the agency can then hand over the funds to the federal government for use in terror combatting.
[...] While there is no criminal proceeding involved the forfeited assets will go a long way in being funneled back into financing the US Governments attempts at combatting terrorism on an international and domestic level. I believe the greatest success and example of asset forfeiture at work is the US Treasury Forfeiture Fund which is run by the United States Treasury and specifically the Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture. The Treasury office describes it as, a special fund. Special funds are federal fund collections that are earmarked by law for a specific purpose. The enabling legislation for TFF (Title 31 U.S.C. 9703) defines those purposes for which Treasury forfeiture revenue may be used. [...]
[...] Asset forfeiture in combating terrorism Asset forfeiture is a wonderful tool in combatting terrorist financing. By causing those who provide funds for terrorist organizations to hand over their wealth to the US government in a criminal investigation or after sentencing, we are able to use the funds that would once be funneled into causing suffering throughout the world into helping in the chase to catch those who would use it for evil. Currently there are court rulings all over the US, like U.S. [...]
[...] According to the FBI, “Essentially, all property used in an act of terrorism or owned by a terrorist is subject to forfeiture without the need for tracing or connecting the property to criminality” (Douglas, 2012). This means that there is no need for the US Government to trace assets back to any actual criminal activity in order for them to be taken in the war on terror. Any assets of a terrorist in US custody may be forfeit to the discretion of the government in how they may be used to combat the very cause that individual stood for. [...]
[...] Typically, this type of forfeiture goes uncontested and is more like a form of abandonment than anything else. After a set time period, in which the assets go unclaimed, the agency can then hand over the funds to the federal government for use in terror combatting. In criminal forfeiture, the majority of this event takes place in a court room in which a judge decides whether the defendant will pay monetary amounts or subsequent material objects with substantial wealth as a form of repayment for assets involved in the committing of a crime. [...]
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