NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED FEDERAL LAWYERS
What is civil asset forfeiture in drug cases?
|Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group – a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek. Our team has over 40 years of combined experience handling criminal defense cases across the country. You might know us from the Netflix series about our client Anna Delvey, or from our work on the Ghislaine Maxwell juror misconduct case. We’ve represented clients in cases that other law firms said were unwinnable.
If you’re reading this, someone probably told you the government wants to take your house, your car, or your bank accounts because of drug allegations. That’s civil asset forfeiture – and it’s one of the most aggressive tools federal prosecutors use in drug cases. You don’t even need to be convicted of a crime. The government can seize your property based on suspicion alone, flip the burden of proof onto you, and force you to fight an uphill battle just to get your assets back.
Civil asset forfeiture isn’t some technicality. In fiscal year 2022 alone, the DEA seized over $441 million in assets and funneled more than $203 million into the DOJ’s forfeiture fund. We’re talking billions across federal agencies – and drug cases are where they hit hardest.
The Government Sues Your Property, Not You
Federal law recognizes three types of forfeiture: criminal forfeiture, civil judicial forfeiture, and administrative forfeiture. Criminal forfeiture happens after conviction – it’s part of your sentence. Civil forfeiture is different. The government doesn’t sue you. They sue your property.
The case caption reads “United States v. $47,000 in U.S. Currency” or “United States v. 2019 Mercedes-Benz.” Your car becomes the defendant. The legal term is “in rem” – against the thing itself. Because it’s a civil proceeding against property rather than a criminal charge against a person, the government doesn’t need to convict you of anything. They just need to prove the property is connected to drug activity.
How much proof? Preponderance of the evidence – meaning more likely than not, far lower than “beyond a reasonable doubt” used in criminal cases. Some states are raising the bar – Washington State’s HB 1440 will require “clear, cogent, and convincing” evidence starting in 2026 – but federal forfeiture still operates on that preponderance standard.
They Can Take Basically Everything
DEA agents seize cars, cash, real estate, jewelry, boats, electronics – anything of value used to commit a drug crime or purchased with drug proceeds. The standard isn’t guilt. It’s probable cause.
Roadside seizures happen constantly. Traffic stop for speeding, officer smells marijuana or asks about the $12,000 in your trunk, suddenly your cash is gone and you’re getting a receipt and a notice about administrative forfeiture proceedings.
Administrative forfeiture – that’s the process where federal agencies take property without filing a lawsuit – handles most cases involving personal property. DEA mails notice letters, posts the seized property on a government website, and waits. If you don’t challenge it within the deadline, the property is forfeited automatically. No judge, no hearing. It just becomes government property.
Real estate and property valued over $500,000 requires judicial forfeiture – a lawsuit in federal court. Anything under that amount can vanish through administrative proceedings if you don’t fight back immediately.
You Have to Prove Your Property is Innocent
Once the government seizes property and initiates forfeiture, you have to affirmatively contest it. Silence means forfeiture. Waiting means forfeiture. Missing a deadline means forfeiture.
That’s a reversal of how criminal law works. In a criminal trial, the government proves your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In civil forfeiture, the government proves a connection by preponderance of evidence, then you prove your property is legitimate. You prove you earned that money legally, bought that car with clean funds, didn’t know your tenant was dealing drugs out of your rental property.
Forfeiture Runs Separate From Your Criminal Case
The DEA uses forfeiture to dismantle trafficking organizations from top to bottom. They go after the courier carrying $50,000 in cash on a Greyhound bus – but they also target money laundering operations, real estate holding companies, luxury cars registered to shell corporations. Asset forfeiture isn’t a side consequence of drug enforcement. It’s a primary strategy.
Someone accused of conspiracy to distribute can lose their house even if charges are dropped, because the civil forfeiture case runs on a separate track. Criminal case dismissed? Doesn’t matter. The property case continues.
Our former federal prosecutors – we have them on staff – know exactly how the government builds these cases. DEA agents prioritize high-value seizures because forfeiture funds get distributed back to the agencies that seized them. Federal law enforcement profits directly from taking property. Proposed reform legislation like the FAIR Act would redirect proceeds to the Treasury’s General Fund, but right now – in 2025 – the system rewards aggressive seizures.
Recent DOJ Changes Don’t Mean It’s Slowing Down
In December 2024, the Department of Justice shut down the DEA’s practice of targeting airline passengers for “consensual encounters” where agents would approach travelers, ask to search their bags, and seize cash. The DOJ Inspector General found the DEA wasn’t following its own policies.
Does that mean forfeiture is slowing down? No. Seizures still happen at traffic stops, through search warrants, during arrests. The volume hasn’t dropped – agencies are just more careful about procedures.
You Have 30 Days or Less to Fight Back
Administrative forfeitures require filing a claim within 30 to 35 days from the notice date. Miss that deadline, your property is gone. Filing a claim triggers judicial forfeiture proceedings – the U.S. Attorney’s Office files a civil lawsuit against your property in federal court.
You need a lawyer who understands both civil litigation and federal drug law. You’re not just arguing property rights – you’re defending against implied allegations of drug trafficking. The government will present evidence that your cash tested positive for drug residue, that large cash amounts are consistent with drug proceeds, that you couldn’t explain the source of funds. You need to counter with bank records, tax returns, employment documentation – while potentially facing parallel criminal charges.
Many defense attorneys avoid forfeiture cases because they’re technical, time-consuming, and require challenging the government’s evidence in a civil framework where criminal defense strategies don’t apply. We handle them because we’ve been doing this for over 40 years and our team includes attorneys who prosecuted these cases before switching sides.
Unlike other law firms who worry about their relationships with prosecutors and judges, we’re loyal only to our clients. We’ve fought cases other firms called unwinnable – the Anna Delvey trial, defending someone in a $12 million Ponzi scheme and getting only six months. When your house or business is on the line because DEA says it’s tied to drugs, you need someone willing to take that fight as far as it needs to go.
Civil asset forfeiture is designed to be stacked against you. The government has lower proof burdens, unlimited resources, and a financial incentive to seize everything they can justify. You have deadlines, evidentiary challenges, and the burden of proving your property’s innocence. That doesn’t mean you can’t win – it means you need lawyers who’ve handled hundreds of federal cases and know how to exploit weaknesses in the government’s case.
If you’re facing forfeiture in a drug case, call us immediately. We’re available 24/7. Not every property can be recovered, but waiting guarantees you lose.