This is a very ignorant question as I am not familiar with criminal proceedings. I am really curious in the case of let’s say Mafia, where we know that the money is ill-gotten. How does the government allow the defendant to pay for goods and services with illegally-earned money, especially after conviction?
For instance, during the court proceedings the defendant is paying for the lawyer services and is later convicted and it is decided that the cash he paid with was ill gotten – is the lawyer forced to return it?
Do they confiscate the cash and ask the lawyers to return it after the conviction?
Comments
Well you’re innocent until proven guilty. That money isn’t ill gotten until a court determines that it is and at that point you’re convicted.
Otherwise a prosecutor could say that everything you have is criminally gained, and you would never be able to mount any kind of defense to protect yourself.
The lawyer accepted the payment in good faith, or so they will argue, and so won’t have to pay it back even if the assets are seized.
Firstly, it may be hard to establish that the cash is the proceeds of a particular crime. The cash (let’s just stick with cash) may be properly laundered or may just not be attributable. So police can’t really prove it is I’ll-gotten gains. Criminals may have a legal business used to launder money and provide a facade.
What the police do do, is show that the criminal has earnings far beyond their legal means – he has a small business but drives a nice car, say. On the basis of this, many police departments these days can file a claim to impound these goods and use them to support the police department. This topic in itself is a rich vein worthy of your time. It is easy to imagine police getting a little over-zealous on this score.