Audit Report 97-32A

Note 4. Forfeited Property, Net

Forfeited property consists of monetary instruments, real property, and tangible personal property acquired through forfeiture proceedings. Forfeited property (net of cash) is held for disposition by the U.S. Marshals Service. This property is recorded at the estimated fair-market value at time of forfeiture, with an offsetting deferred revenue when a forfeiture judgment is obtained. The net value of this property has been reduced by estimated liens of record. However, the estimate does not reflect all possible liens and claims of innocent third parties. Such information becomes available as the individual cases proceed from seizure to forfeiture. The following tables represent the analysis of change and methods of disposition of forfeited property for FY 1996. With regard to the following tables, Forfeited Property represents assets for which the U.S. Government has title. The financial information supporting the figures presented in the following schedules was provided by the Seized Assets Management System (SAMS) and the Consolidated Asset Tracking System (CATS). SAMS provided data from 69 districts and CATS provided data from 25 districts. Both systems are separate and distinct from the general ledger.

*Property Category*		*Beginning Balance*	*Forfeitures*	*Dispositions*	*Ending Balance*	*Liens/Claims*
Aircrafts	#	18	13	21	10	0
Aircrafts	$ value	4,161	17,990	15,073	7,078	0
Animals	#	0	0	0	0	0
Animals	$ value	0	0	0	0	0
Art & Antiques	#	9	19	15	13	0
Art & Antiques	$ value	328	409	211	526	0
Businesses	#	20	10	17	13	0
Businesses	$ value	3,094	1,704	1,801	2,997	0
Electronic Equip.	#	16	455	231	240	0
Electronic Equip.	$ value	583	1,468	1,267	784	0
Financial Insts.	#	215	136	188	163	2
Financial Insts.	$ value	30,884	8,870	23,552	16,202	38
Foodstuffs	#	3	16	18	1	0
Foodstuffs	$ value	0	954	929	25	0
Jewelry	#	108	161	138	131	0
Jewelry	$ value	6,051	1,694	5,474	2,271	0
Lab & Chemicals	#	23	83	33	73	0
Lab & Chemicals	$ value	585	256	532	309	0
Real Properties	#	1,046	423	956	513	205
Real Properties	$ value	162,940	65,078	142,522	85,496	11,803
Vehicles	#	2,999	18,314	18,146	3,167	21
Vehicles	$ value	9,184	45,648	42,776	12,056	89
Vessels	#	62	114	134	42	1
Vessels	$ value	2,524	3,865	5,185	1,204	1
Weapons	#	120	210	138	192	0
Weapons	$ value	113	13	117	9	0
Other	#	158	152	178	132	0
Other	$ value	4,933	2,033	4,398	2,568	0
Total	#	4,797	20,106	20,213	4,690	229
Total	$ value	225,380	149,982	243,837	131,525	11,931

*Property Category*		Lost/Stolen Destroyed	*Retained for official use*	*Returned Asset*	*Sold*	Transferred to State or Local	*Other1*	*Total*
Aircrafts	#	0	1	1	17	2	0	21
Aircrafts	$ value	0	785	100	14,158	30	0	15,073
Animals	#	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Animals	$ value	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Art & Antiques	#	0	1	1	13	0	0	15
Art & Antiques	$ value	0	17	58	136	0	0	211
Businesses	#	3	0	0	7	1	6	17
Businesses	$ value	330	0	0	1,284	45	142	1,801
Electronic Equip.	#	5	72	4	125	20	5	231
Electronic Equip.	$ value	145	858	73	148	17	26	1,267
Financial Insts.	#	0	0	11	48	0	129	188
Financial Insts.	$ value	0	0	1,886	7,333	0	14,333	23,552
Foodstuffs	#	16	0	0	2	0	0	18
Foodstuffs	$ value	928	0	0	1	0	0	929
Jewelry	#	1	9	11	115	0	2	138
Jewelry	$ value	0	99	89	5,275	0	11	5,474
Lab & Chemicals	#	27	1	0	1	0	4	33
Lab & Chemicals	$ value	527	5	0	0	0	0	532
Real Properties	#	1	6	68	739	0	142	956
Real Properties	$ value	27	217	10,164	115,244	0	16,870	142,522
Vehicles	#	42	342	2,903	14,522	273	64	18,146
Vehicles	$ value	5	5,595	13,320	20,798	1,963	1,095	42,776
Vessels	#	3	10	1	110	6	4	134
Vessels	$ value	8	282	84	4,336	38	437	5,185
Weapons	#	126	2	7	0	1	2	138
Weapons	$ value	112	4	1	0	0	0	117
Other	#	28	11	3	99	8	29	178
Other	$ value	334	108	80	3,344	13	519	4,398
Total	#	252	455	3,010	15,798	311	387	20,213
Total	$ value	2,416	7,970	25,855	172,057	2,106	33,433	243,837

A seizure is the act of taking possession of goods in consequence of a violation of public law. Seized property consists of monetary instruments, real property, and tangible personal property of others in the actual or constructive possession of the custodial agency. Seized property and equipment (net of cash) is held for disposition by the U.S. Marshals Service. This property is recorded at the estimated fair-market value at the time of seizure. The fair market value of this property has been reduced by estimated liens and claims of third parties. However, the estimate does not reflect all possible liens and claims of innocent third parties. Such information becomes available as the individual cases proceed from seizure to forfeiture. The following tables represent the analysis of change and methods of disposition of seized property for FY 1996. With regard to the following tables, Seized Property represents assets which have been seized and are awaiting disposition. The U.S. Government does not have title for these assets. The financial information supporting the figures presented in the following schedules was provided by the Seized Assets Management System (SAMS) and the Consolidated Asset Tracking System (CATS). SAMS provided data from 69 districts and CATS provided data from 25 districts. Both systems are separate and distinct from the general ledger.

*Property Category*		*Beginning Balance*	*Seizures*	*Dispositions*	*Ending Balance*	*Liens/Claims*
Aircrafts	#	40	12	17	35	3
Aircrafts	$ value	16,915	17,218	17,975	16,158	1,357
Animals	#	0	1	0	1	0
Animals	$ value	0	120	0	120	0
Art & Antiques	#	50	33	22	61	0
Art & Antiques	$ value	1,438	818	313	1,943	0
Businesses	#	16	23	11	28	3
Businesses	$ value	39,206	2,701	3,704	38,203	1,061
Electronic Equip.	#	356	204	219	341	3
Electronic Equip.	$ value	2,206	532	1,907	831	6
Financial Insts.	#	402	472	240	634	14
Financial Insts.	$ value	99,619	15,353	62,219	52,753	1,593
Foodstuffs	#	23	17	24	16	0
Foodstuffs	$ value	1,338	5,066	2,452	3,952	0
Jewelry	#	723	205	597	331	4
Jewelry	$ value	41,455	3,551	7,830	37,176	473
Lab & Chemicals	#	29	184	69	144	0
Lab & Chemicals	$ value	224	875	249	850	0
Real Properties	#	981	477	576	882	429
Real Properties	$ value	249,298	68,525	141,686	176,137	57,115
Vehicles	#	7,600	22,154	21,372	8,382	1,658
Vehicles	$ value	43,930	75,405	73,607	45,728	9,964
Vessels	#	147	241	197	191	8
Vessels	$ value	9,207	163,120	137,620	34,707	159
Weapons	#	310	213	238	285	0
Weapons	$ value	173	18	146	45	0
Other	#	405	175	193	387	4
Other	$ value	6,900	4,619	2,970	8,549	209
Total	#	11,082	24,411	23,775	11,718	2,126
Total	$ value	511,909	357,921	452,678	417,152	71,937

Property Category		Lost/Stolen Destroyed	*Forfeited*	*Returned Asset*	*Sold*	Returned to State Agency	*Other2*	*Total*
Aircrafts	#	0	13	3	0	0	1	17
Aircrafts	$ value	0	17,864	97	0	0	14	17,975
Animals	#	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Animals	$ value	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Art & Antiques	#	0	21	1	0	0	0	22
Art & Antiques	$ value	0	310	3	0	0	0	313
Businesses	#	0	10	0	0	0	1	11
Businesses	$ value	0	1,704	0	0	0	2,000	3,704
Electronic Equip.	#	1	185	24	0	1	8	219
Electronic Equip.	$ value	0	1,702	178	0	1	26	1,907
Financial Insts.	#	0	133	45	0	0	62	240
Financial Insts.	$ value	0	40,549	9,043	0	0	12,627	62,219
Foodstuffs	#	0	15	6	0	0	3	24
Foodstuffs	$ value	0	939	13	0	0	1,500	2,452
Jewelry	#	0	418	164	0	0	15	597
Jewelry	$ value	0	5,374	1,641	0	0	815	7,830
Lab & Chemicals	#	1	67	1	0	0	0	69
Lab & Chemicals	$ value	1	248	0	0	0	0	249
Real Properties	#	0	422	118	4	1	31	576
Real Properties	$ value	0	93,520	42,103	854	328	4,881	141,686
Vehicles	#	3	18,491	2,828	10	15	25	21,372
Vehicles	$ value	0	55,622	17,566	53	164	202	73,607
Vessels	#	0	112	66	3	2	14	197
Vessels	$ value	0	3,932	123,163	70	5	10,450	137,620
Weapons	#	53	170	6	0	0	9	238
Weapons	$ value	0	104	32	0	0	10	146
Other	#	1	141	40	0	0	11	193
Other	$ value	0	2,088	745	0	0	137	2,970
Total	#	59	20,198	3,302	17	19	180	23,775
Total	$ value	1	223,956	194,584	977	498	32,662	452,678

This balance includes payments due to vendors contracted to perform services relative to maintaining seized and forfeited assets, and equitable sharing payments due to state and local law enforcement agencies. Some expenses are accrued based upon estimates of amounts due to contractors. For FYs 1996 and 1995, these estimates are provided to the Asset Forfeiture Management Staff by various organizations of the Department of Justice and other participating Government agencies pursuant to reimbursement agreements.

1 "Other" represents methods of disposition that are unusual or infrequently used. Some examples of the use of the "other" category are: (a) liquidation of financial instruments; (b) aircraft transferred to the Department of the Interior (a non-participating federal agency); (c) real property used in the Weed & Seed Program; (d) real property in which USMS received "substitute res" (the monetary value of the property is substituted in place of the property) for the property; and (e) real property released to a claimant in lieu of cash settlement.

2 "Other" represents methods of disposition that are unusual or infrequently used. Some examples of the use of the "other" category are: (a) liquidation of financial instruments; (b) aircraft transferred to the Department of the Interior (a non-participating federal agency); (c) real property used in the Weed & Seed Program; (d) real property in which USMS received "substitute res" (the monetary value of the property is substituted in place of the property) for the property; and (e) real property released to a claimant in lieu of cash settlement.