In April 2025, I had the opportunity to give a presentation to the Maryland Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners on how to use the criminal and civil forfeiture laws to recover property in fraud cases and return it to victims.  The following link is to my presentation, which includes numerous examples from […]

This article, which has been accepted for publication in the U.K. in The Company Lawyer, discusses the need for — and the U.S. Government’s resistance to — enhancing the regulatory oversight of the cryptocurrency industry.  Using the Tornado Cash case as an example, it takes the view that with antiquated laws, and without political will, combatting […]

This is the program for the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime which will take place this year from August 31 to September 7 at the usual location at Cambridge University.  Also attached is a letter of invitation from Prof. Barry A.K. Rider explaining the scope and purpose of the Symposium and a registration form. […]

Here is a short memo that I did on the Supreme Court’s decision in Knote v. United States, which explains the effect of a presidential pardon on the forfeiture of property. Effect of pardon on forfeiture

The following is an excerpt from the November 2024 issue of the Money Laundering and Forfeiture Digest: TD Bank pleads guilty to concealment money laundering, failing to file complete CTRs, and failing to maintain an adequate AML program, and agrees to forfeitures and fines totaling $1.8 billion. TD Bank, a Canadian bank that is now […]

The Basel Institute for Governance / International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) is recruiting an asset recovery specialist to advise prosecutors in Moldova on the means of combatting money laundering through financial investigations and the recovery of criminal proceeds.  The following is a link to the announcement of the position. 240702 Sr Specialist Asset Recovery,Moldova

On April 17, 2024, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in McIntosh v. United States.   In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Sotomayor, the Court agreed with the Government, the district court, and the Second Circuit that Rule 32.2(b)(2)(B) is a “time-related directive” and that a trial court’s failure to follow the rule by entering […]

The sentencing of Samuel Bankman-Fried on fraud charges in the FTX case — which included an $11 billion forfeiture judgment — prompted me to ask whether the invention of cryptocurrency had created wholly new opportunities for criminals to make money, or to gain some advantage over their victims and law enforcement, or whether crimes like […]

Samuel Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was convicted of conspiracies to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.  In addition, the court imposed an $11 billion forfeiture money judgment and forfeited a long list of specific assets that the court found to […]

On February 27, 2024, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in United States v. McIntosh, a case dealing with the procedure for imposing an order of forfeiture in a criminal case. Rule 32.2(b)(2)(B) provides that “unless doing so is impractical, the court must enter [a] preliminary order of forfeiture sufficiently in advance of sentencing to allow […]