On the recordDecember 8, 2010
I rise to speak in support of S. 4005, the Preserving Criminal Assets for Forfeiture Act of 2010, which I recently introduced with my distinguished colleague Senator Cornyn. This bill will help keep the proceeds and instrumentalities of crime out of the hands of foreign criminals. It will also encourage foreign countries to assist the United States in recovering the overseas assets of U.S. criminals. The U.S. Government is currently authorized to assist foreign nations seeking to enforce their forfeiture judgments, for example by seizing the proceeds of large-scale international fraud, drug trafficking, or money laundering. Recent judicial decisions, however, have interpreted existing statutes as not providing our courts with the authority to restrain known criminal assets located in the U.S. prior to the issuance of a foreign forfeiture judgment. Criminals are therefore able to move and hide the assets they hold in the United States as soon as they find out they will be subject to foreign forfeiture proceedings, or even while the proceedings are ongoing. This leaves U.S. courts with no property to freeze once the foreign forfeiture judgment is entered. Because of this hole in the law, foreign criminals have already been able to shield hundreds of millions of dollars worth of ill-gotten property, allowing them to continue their criminal enterprises and frustrating the efforts of law enforcement.
