19 U.S.C. § 1613b Customs Forfeiture Fund

• Library: United States Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through P.L. 118-34 (published on www.congress.gov on 12/26/2023), except for [P. L. 118-31]
• Year: 2023
• Citation: 19 U.S.C. § 1613b

(a) In general

(1) There is established in the Treasury of the United States a fund to be known as the "Customs Forfeiture Fund" (hereafter in this section referred to as the "Fund"), which shall be available to the United States Customs Service, subject to appropriation, with respect to seizures and forfeitures by the United States Customs Service and the United States Coast Guard under any law enforced or administered by those agencies for payment, or for reimbursement to the appropriation from which payment was made, for-

(A) all proper expenses of the seizure (including investigative costs incurred by the United States Customs Service leading to seizures) or the proceedings of forfeiture and sale, including, but not limited to, the expenses of inventory, security, and maintenance of custody of the property, advertisement and sale of the property, and if condemned by the court and a bond for such costs was not given, the costs as taxed by the court;

(B) awards of compensation to informers under section 1619 of this title;

(C) satisfaction of-

(i) liens for freight, charges, and contributions in general average, notice of which has been filed with the appropriate customs officer according to law, and

(ii) other liens against forfeited property;

(D) amounts authorized by law with respect to remission and mitigation;

(E) claims of parties in interest to property disposed of under section 1612(b) of this title, in the amounts applicable to such claims at the time of seizure; and

(F) equitable sharing payments made to other Federal agencies, State and local law enforcement agencies, and foreign countries under the authority of section 1616a(c) of this title or section 981 of title 18.

(2)

(A) Any payment made under subparagraph (C) or (D) of paragraph (1) with respect to a seizure or a forfeiture of property shall not exceed the value of the property at the time of the seizure.

(B) Any payment made under subparagraph (F) of paragraph (1) with respect to a seizure or forfeiture of property shall not exceed the value of the property at the time of disposition.

(3) In addition to the purposes described in paragraph (1), the Fund shall be available for-

(A) purchases by the United States Customs Service of evidence of-

(i) smuggling of controlled substances, and

(ii) violations of the currency and foreign transaction reporting requirements of chapter 51 of title 31, if there is a substantial probability that the violations of these requirements are related to the smuggling of controlled substances;

(B) equipment for any vessel, vehicle, or aircraft available for official use by the United States Customs Service to enable the vessel, vehicle, or aircraft to assist in law enforcement functions;

(C) the reimbursement, at the discretion of the Secretary, of private persons for expenses incurred by such persons in cooperating with the United States Customs Service in investigations and undercover law enforcement operations;

(D) publication of the availability of awards under section 1619 of this title;

(E) equipment for any vessel, vehicle, or aircraft available for official use by a State or local law enforcement agency to enable the vessel, vehicle, or aircraft to assist in law enforcement functions if the conveyance will be used in joint law enforcement operations with the United States Customs Service; and