Money Laundering Forfeiture under 18 U.S.C. § 981

Federal agencies seize U.S. Currency, cryptocurrency, and other valuable property after alleging the property is involved in money laundering or other violations of federal law. The most commonly alleged money laundering offense alleged in civil asset forfeiture cases is 18 U.S.C. § 981.

Real or personal property “involved in a transaction or attempted transaction in violation of section . . . 1957 . . . of this title, or any property traceable to such property” is subject to forfeiture under 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(A).

Section 1957 prohibits knowingly engaging in or attempting to engage in “a monetary transaction in criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000” in proceeds “derived from specified unlawful activity.” 18 U.S.C. § 1957(a).

The statutes define “criminally derived property” as “property constituting, or derived from, proceeds obtained from a criminal offense.” 18 U.S.C. § 1957(f)(2). “Specified unlawful activity” as defined in section 1956(c)(7) includes any offense listed in 18 U.S.C. § 1961(1), which provides for “dealing in a controlled substance.”

For these reasons, “the knowledge element of the offense requires that the defendant know that the property in question is ‘criminally derived,’ although it does not require knowledge that the property was derived from ‘specified unlawful activity.'” United States v. $8,192.70 Held in First Bank Account #2026030437, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 220032, *6, 2020 WL 6894672 (citing United States v. Bornfield, 145 F.3d 1123, 1132 (10th Cir. 1998)).

Attorney for Money Laundering Forfeiture under Section 981

If the federal government seized your property for forfeiture under 18 U.S.C. § 981, contact an experienced civil asset forfeiture attorney at Sammis Law Firm. We can help you file a verified claim, even before you receive a “notice of seizure” letter in the mail.

Contact us to find out if filing a petition for remission or mitigation might not be the best course of action, since it allows the agency that seized the property to decide what happens to it. Many of those cases result in a nine-month delay and a form letter denying any relief.

On the other hand, if you file a verified claim for court action, the federal agency no longer gets to decide what happens to your property. In some of those cases, the United States Attorney’s office might decline to file a complaint for forfeiture, which means you might get the property back much quicker.

We can help you file the verified claim for court action, and respond appropriate if an Assistant United States Attorney files a complaint for forfeiture in the U.S. District Court.

Call 813-250-0500.

Violations under 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(C) – SUA

The United States brings most civil asset forfeiture cases under 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(C), which provides, in relevant part, for the forfeiture of any property, real or personal, which constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to an offense constituting “specified unlawful activity” as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 1956(c)(7).

Under § 1956(c)(7), “specified unlawful activity” includes any act or activity constituting an offense listed in 18 U.S.C. § 981, which in turn includes violations of:

• § 1341 (“the Mail Fraud Claim”); and
• § 1343 (“the Wire Fraud Claim”).

Promotional Money Laundering – 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(A)(i) makes it a crime to conduct or attempt to conduct a financial transaction, knowing that the property involved in the transaction represents the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity, and which in fact involves the proceeds of specified unlawful activity, with the intent to promote the carrying on of a specified unlawful activity.

Concealment Money Laundering – 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(B)(i) makes it a crime to conduct or attempt to conduct a financial transaction, knowing that the property involved in the transaction represents the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity, and which in fact involves the proceeds of specified unlawful activity, knowing that the transaction is designed in whole or in part to conceal or disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership, or the control of the proceeds of specified unlawful activity.

International Money Laundering – 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2)(A) makes it a crime to transmit, transfer or attempt to transmit or transfer funds from outside the United States to a place in the United States with the intent to promote the carrying on of a specified unlawful activity. See United States v. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. Guernsey Branch Acct. No. 121128 (Lazarenko), 571 F. Supp. 2d 1, 11 (D.D.C. 2008).

Forfeiture of Property “Involved In” Specific Offenses

Under 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(A), “[a]ny property, real or personal, involved in a transaction or attempted transaction in violation of section 1956, 1957 or 1960 of this title, or any property traceable to such property” is subject to forfeiture to the United States. Forfeiture pursuant to these statutes applies to more than just the proceeds of the crime.

These forfeitures encompass all property “involved in” the crime or the attempted crime, which includes “clean” money that is commingled with “tainted” money derived from illicit sources. See 18 U.S.C. § 983(c)(3).

This commingling is a laundering technique that facilitates the scheme because it obfuscates the trail of the illicit funds. For example, in United
States v. Huber, 404 F.3d 1047, 1058 (8th Cir. 2005), the court found that the presence of legitimate funds does not make a money laundering transaction lawful when it is only necessary to show that the transaction involves criminal proceeds.

Forfeiture of Criminal “Proceeds”

Under 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(C) and 28 U.S.C. § 2461(c), any property, real or personal, which constitutes or is derived from “proceeds” traceable to a violation of an offense involving specified unlawful activity as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 1956(c)(7) or a conspiracy to commit such offenses, is subject to criminal and civil forfeiture.

Money Laundering Crimes Involving Cryptocurrencies

The most common virtual currency money laundering behaviors include:

• rapid, large-scale and irregular movement of funds between different virtual currency addresses without apparent business purpose;
• converting across different virtual currency blockchains (i.e., “chain-hopping”);
• transactions involving newly created or previously dormant addresses;
• conversion into USDT from alternative virtual currencies for no apparent business purpose;
• transferring bitcoin in large volumes in exchange for currencies held on a decentralized blockchain platform (e.g., TRON);
• receiving a large volume of low value virtual currency deposits from numerous addresses and aggregating funds into large
  volume transfers to select number of different addresses (e.g., a “mule” or “funnel” account); and
• transferring funds from countries commonly targeted by cyber fraud, such as the United States, to jurisdictions known for weak regulatory frameworks, inadequate anti-money laundering controls, or heightened levels of corruption.

Law enforcement officers are trained to look for the rapid movement of large amounts of cryptocurrency through a wallet within a short period of time with no clear business purpose is indicative of an effort to conceal and disguise the origin and illicit nature of the funds. When the tracing analysis shows funds moving into and out of wallets using these patterns, that activity might be consistent with efforts to conceal the nature and source of the virtual currency.

Such activites might be consistent with the wallets use as funnel accounts if these accounts received large numbers of lower value transfers in and sent out smaller numbers of larger value transfers.

This article was last updated on Wednesday, September 17, 2025.