Defendant accused of stealing federal funds while deployed to Afghanistan is prevented from selling his home, which was not purchased with stolen funds, in case prosecutors want to forfeit it later—if and when they get a conviction. Fourth Circuit (en banc): “No other circuit allows the pretrial seizure of untainted assets, and we were wrong to have allowed it up until now.”
In April 2016, with the charges still pending against Defendant, the government sought a restraining order, pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 53(e)(1)(A), to prevent the sale of a piece of real property owned by Defendant and his wife with an estimated value of $200,000. In so doing, the government correctly noted that “the Fourth Circuit, unlike other circuits, permits the pre-trial restraint of substitute assets, subject to Sixth
Amendment concerns.” Read more here.