The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) is a UK law that deals with the recovery of assets obtained through criminal activity and the prevention of money laundering. It grants law enforcement agencies wide-ranging powers to confiscate assets, freeze funds, and pursue civil recovery proceedings.
Does America have any law similar?
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Yeah I forget what it’s called but it’s a big deal for like drug busts and stuff
Asset forfeiture is widely used, and at times controversial
It’s called civil forfeiture, although it is commonly used to just straight up steal people’s money and belongings
Plenty of local PDs have former drug dealer cars in service.
It’s not called that, but yes
Civil Asset Forfeiture exists and is used to the point that I think the majority of people have serious issues with it.
I don’t know if there’s a specific Act that covers it, but law enforcement is typically pretty aggressive at seizing assets. Some say they go too far.
We have “asset forfeiture”, but there have been some abuses.
you know both google and chatgpt exist?
“Yes, the United States has equivalent laws to the UK’s Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA), but they are structured somewhat differently. The U.S. system combines federal and state laws, with the federal government playing the leading role in major asset forfeiture and anti-money laundering efforts.
U.S. Equivalents to POCA
1. Asset Forfeiture Laws
There’s something called “civil asset forfeiture” where the police rob civilians for their money or belongings without due process. It was ruled unconstitutional in South Carolina, if I recall correctly.
Yes, and I believe they can go after any assets obtained from the illegal act. Say you rob a bank for $100k and buy a house, if they take the house and sell it for $500k you don’t get to keep the difference.
Yeah, the U.S. has similar laws like RICO and federal asset forfeiture rules that let them seize assets tied to crime, even without a conviction in some cases.
We definitely have similar but there’s a few different laws which handle it based on the situation IIRC.
A convicted killer can’t write a book about their crimes and profit off that book, for example. Nor should a fraudster expect to keep any assets until all fraud claims and fines have been satisfied. There’s many other examples out there.
We have civil asset forfeiture but that doesn’t have to be connected to criminal activity. Don’t carry cash, you may never get it back.
Yes, it’s Asset Forfeiture in the US and it’s very controversial here.
We have civil asset forfeiture. Basically the cops can take anything they want in a search that could be construed as evidence or resulting proceeds of crime. It’s a bit different than what you have but similar. Fun fact: you have to pay taxes on ill-gotten gains in the US. There is a line item for illegal income on IRS forms. And they enforce it. Al Capone was arrested and jailed not for his large racketeering empire, but because he didn’t pay taxes on it.
It’s tangential, but look up “Son of Sam Laws” too. The long and short of it is that a person can not profit from media depictions of their crimes, including memoirs.
We have 2 such things…
“Criminal asset forfeiture” is where they confiscate the proceeds of a crime after someone is convicted.
“Civil asset forfeiture” is where they just take your stuff for no reason… in direct violation of our 4th and 5th amendments, but nobody seems to care about that.
LOL, we don’t need that. We already have a thing called Civil Asset Forfeiture. The police can take money from anyone they want just by saying they think it’s for crime, and they don’t even have to give it back after an innocent verdict. Gotta sue ’em for it.
There are many different laws that can be cited to give police the ability to do what you are describing.
It is often used as an excuse for cops to legally steal from the public. The public does not like it.
Asset forfeiture is the term used here. I live in a small, rural county that happens to be along a major drug trafficking route. Our sheriff’s department has a bunch of confiscated cars they use for unmarked patrols, including a Corvette. It’s pretty funny seeing this burgundy red corvette pulling people over on the highway.
Yes.
As an example, if someone is CONVICTED of drug trafficking, any asset used in the committing of the crime can be seized, assets suspected to be purchased withoney gained illegal cam be siezed. The convicted has to prove they used legally obtained money, to prevent losing assets.
The money/cars/boats etc that are sized are either used or sold by the police of that jurisdiction. The profit goes to the arresting department. (Sheriff/Local PD/Sate highway patrol/etc..)
The American term is “civil asset forfeiture”. We treat the stolen goods like a pirate’s prize ship.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act
I believe this is similar to what you described.
Yes. Receiving stolen property is a crime( rarely prosecuted) but the stolen property is seized leaving the buyer of said stolen property with the loss of what they paid for it. An example of charged with the crime or not would be a pawn shop repeatedly being caught with stolen goods vs your Uncle Edward biting stolen goods but he has no criminal record.
Yes and it is abused constantly.
We have the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
This is how the Feds get you. Once they slap a RICO investigation on you you’re pretty screwed.
america can confiscate your money that you obtained legally just cause you have too much on you.
We have both restitution in sentencing (you are sentenced to life in prison, and 1 million restitution to the family of your victim, etc) and civil asset forfeiture (since no one can prove that this house, car and boat were bought with clean money, the government takes them and sells them at auction).
The Biden family doesn’t have dozens of LLCs for nothing.
Civil asset forfeiture. Cops can seize suspect assets and you pretty have to go to court and prove you asset innocence
Civil asset forfeiture
Would be mostly covered under civil asset forfeiture. Lots of controversy around it as it’s very easy for police to seize and it’s a very lengthy and expensive process to get it back. Oh you’re traveling thru middle of nowhere Kansas with $10k cash on you to buy a car but you got pulled over for speeding. The cop has decided you might have gained the money illegally without much if any cause. There have been several cases with very flimsy probably cause. Are you going to travel back to Kansas at your own expense? Hire a lawyer? Taking time off of work and away from family? While Kansas has been pushing for reform, it’s only very recent.
And even businesses are not immune.
“In one case, the Dickinson County Sheriff helped seize $165,000 from an armored truck. That money came from legally sold marijuana in Missouri that was being driven through Kansas to Colorado.”
They were transporting money. Not drugs. Just money. Kansas is like nope we will take that.
Yes, and I’m sure they abuse it in the UK like the do in the US.
It’s called Civil Asset Forfeiture and it is commonly used by the government/police to rob Americans who have not been convicted of a crime. John Oliver did a really good piece about it a long time ago explaining it. It’s a very unpopular practice
Yes, Victims of Crime Act (VOCA). Funds go towards two grant programs
Civil asset forfeiture. There’s also a common law thing(and I’d not be surprised if the UK has this) where you can be forced to unwind a purchase even if the buyer didn’t know they were buying stolen goods.
The Feds have one or more for Federal crimes and each state has one for state crimes.
Each state has there own thing we just call it restitution some states even force criminals to pay you back with interest
Most US states have two such laws: Criminal asset forfeiture and civil asset forfeiture. Criminal collects on the proceeds of crimes that are proven – someone found guilty. Civil is when things are taken because the police/justice system thinks the proceeds may have been connected to a crime, but not proven or even gone to trial. I can agree with the first one, and definitely think the second is illegal and violates the constitution (despite SCOTUS rulings).
I know the Federal law system has criminal asset forfeiture, but am not sure about having a civil one (though I would be shocked if they didn’t have one).