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1 1 (May 26, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdayv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ~* or 101 ' Researh Servi kM- Time Is Time, but Money Is Money May 26, 2020 Introduction In United States v. Saccoccia, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (First Circuit) recently refused to vacate a 1993 judgment ordering Stephen Saccoccia-who is serving a 660-year prison sentence for money laundering-to forfeit S 136 million to the government, the amount of money that Saccoccia and others had laundered through bank accounts that Saccoccia controlled. Saccoccia did not ask the court to overturn his convictions or to shorten his prison sentence. He sought only the return of the $136 million he forfeited as a consequence of his convictions. Saccoccia argued that the Supreme Court's 2017 decision in United States v. Honeycutt-which held that the doctrine of joint-and-several liability does not apply to federal forfeiture actions arising from drug crimes-should be read to retroactively invalidate the forfeiture order in his case. The First Circuit rejected that argument, holding that Saccoccia would not be entitled to relief even if Honeycutt applied retroactively. Background Saccoccia owned a string of coin, gold, and precious metal businesses that he used in a multimillion dollar money laundering operation conducted for the benefit of Colombian drug traffickers. Eventually, Saccoccia, a few family members, and several employees were convicted on money laundering and RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) conspiracy charges. RICO convictions permit the government to seek the criminal forfeiture of property constituting or derived from a corrupt enterprise. In some circumstances when the criminally-tainted assets have been dissipated and cannot be reached, a court may order the confiscation of substitute assets instead. In addition, federal forfeiture law allows the government to elect to take a money judgment in lieu of the tainted property. When multiple defendants are convicted of participating in the same RICO offenses, the question becomes from which defendants the government may seek forfeiture. Under federal criminal law, conspirators are liable for any reasonable foreseeable offenses committed by any of their co- conspirators. There is a similar principle in civil tort law, under which wrong-doers who collectively contribute to an injury are said to be jointly and severally liable for damages, that is, each of the wrong- doers is liable for the entire amount of the damages, although the plaintiff can recover that amount only once. Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB10477 CRS Leg Sidebar Prepaed for Menbeis and Cornm ittees o4 Co q _gress ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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