Asset Forfeiture Law Update-Freeport

COURSE CONTENT:  Sweeping changes were made to all of Illinois Asset Forfeiture statutes effective July 1, 2018.   Notice requirements, filing deadlines, proof of service, seizure thresholds, awarding of property, and burdens of proof have all changed, and a new reporting requirement has been added.

These changes impact how officers need to investigate cases in the field and how prosecutors litigate cases in the courtroom.  Law enforcement officers and prosecutors will need to change the way these cases are handled if Asset Forfeiture will be a component in any cases your agency investigates or prosecutes after July 1, 2018.

This course will provide law enforcement officers and prosecutors an understanding of forfeiture law in Illinois and how to successfully incorporate the forfeiture component into criminal investigations and prosecutions.  After reviewing applicable statutes, the course will cover practical implementation of those statutes through real world examples.  Additionally, techniques for locating assets and building financial cases will be discussed.

This course will be useful for patrol officers; officers in specialized units such as narcotics, gangs or financial crimes; command staff; and agency policymakers. For those individuals who have already attended a forfeiture training, this course will broaden your ability to implement forfeiture law into your investigations and capture previously untouched assets of criminal enterprises. 

In part one of the course, we will review the changes in the new law as compared to the old law and we will discuss how to best implement the new statutory requirements and develop best practices to deal with the changes. 

In part two of the course, we will discuss techniques for developing the financial component of your investigations to uncover more assets to apply the new law to and also develop methods to make Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering cases more winnable. 

We will explore various facets of financial drug investigations, including money laundering, asset forfeiture, and uncovering financial leads. We will show how to uncover, locate, document and seize drug proceeds, and add money laundering and conspiracy charges to a drug investigation.

Also discussed will be FINCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) information such as SAR’s and CTR’s (Suspicious Activity Reports and Currency Transaction Reports), obtaining records from credit bureaus, credit card companies, banks and car dealerships, and finding real estate records. 

Forfeitures can be a valuable tool to law enforcement in the following areas: improving public safety by forfeiting the DUI and suspended driver’s car, taking away expensive vehicles and other assets from drug dealers, seizing bank accounts of criminals who commit check/credit card fraud and other financial crimes, forfeiting real property paid for with proceeds of mortgage fraud or any other crime where money is derived, and taking profits away from fencing groups.

REGISTRATION:  All registrations are received on the MTU#1 website.  Find Registration instructions here

THIS IS NOT A PUBLIC MEETING