Most people who ask what CBP does with seized money are not asking out of curiosity. They are asking because their own money is sitting somewhere and they want to know whether it still exists, whether anyone is spending it, and whether they are going to see it again.
The short answer is that seized currency and seized merchandise follow completely different paths, and the path that matters to most people is the one that gets the least attention. Here is what actually happens, and one consequence of it that affects how a CBP currency seizure should be fought.
Where Seized Currency Actually Goes
Seized cash is not stored in an envelope in a back room at the port. It is deposited into a government suspense or holding account while the case is pending. Your specific bills are gone from the moment of seizure; what exists after that is a balance.
If the currency is ultimately forfeited, that balance is transferred as forfeited revenue into the Department of the Treasury Forfeiture Fund, established at 31 U.S.C. § 9705 and administered by the Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture. CBP is one of the Fund’s participating agencies, alongside Homeland Security Investigations, the Secret Service, the Coast Guard, and IRS Criminal Investigation.
The money does not go into a warehouse
Forfeited currency becomes revenue. The Fund pays the costs of running the forfeiture program, funds equitable sharing payments to state and local agencies that participated in the seizure, pays remissions to victims in qualifying cases, and transfers surplus to the Treasury general fund. Once it is in there, getting it out is an administrative process, not a matter of retrieving an item.
The route into the Fund is the same whether the forfeiture was administrative, conducted by CBP itself, or judicial, decided in federal court on a seizure CBP made.
Before Anything Is Forfeited: Appraisement and Admissibility
Every seizure begins with CBP assigning the property a domestic value. The regulatory measure is the price at which such or similar property is freely offered for sale at the time and place of appraisement, in the same quantity as seized, in the ordinary course of trade. As a working approximation, that is fair market value at the time and place of seizure.
Appraisement matters more than it looks. Penalty amounts, mitigation calculations, and bond obligations are frequently measured against domestic value, so an inflated appraisement inflates everything downstream. For currency the figure is self-evident. For merchandise it is contestable, and it is worth contesting.
CBP also determines whether seized goods are admissible at all. Narcotics, unsafe electrical components, and lead-contaminated children’s products are examples of things that cannot lawfully enter regardless of who owns them or what the paperwork says.
What Happens to Forfeited Merchandise
Where goods are admissible but the owner did not recover them either administratively or in court, CBP has three options.
- Destruction. The port director may destroy forfeited merchandise that infringes intellectual property rights, has no commercial value, presents a safety risk, or otherwise violates U.S. law.
- Sale. Admissible goods with commercial value can be sold at public auction, including online, with advance notice to the importer, consignee, shipper, and any warehouse transferee. Counterfeit goods may only be sold with the permission of the U.S. trademark holder, after the counterfeit mark has been obliterated, and only once a waiting period has passed and no government agency or charitable institution has claimed a need for them.
- Retention or transfer. The government may keep forfeited property for official use or transfer it to another agency or institution. Detroit CBP has donated seized fossils to the University of Michigan under this authority.
These options do not apply to cash
Currency is not destroyed, auctioned, or put to official use. It is deposited as revenue, as described above. Nor does forfeited currency travel the unclaimed-and-abandoned route that applies to merchandise left in customs custody for want of duty payment. Those are separate mechanisms for separate categories of property.
Your Money Earns Interest While You Wait. Who Keeps It?
Currency sitting in a government account for a year or more during a contested case does not sit idle. This raises a question almost no one asks until it is too late to matter.
Under 28 U.S.C. § 2465(b), a claimant who substantially prevails in a civil forfeiture proceeding is entitled to reasonable attorney fees and litigation costs, post-judgment interest, and in currency cases both any interest actually earned by the government from the date of seizure and an imputed amount of interest. That is a meaningful sum on a large seizure held for a long time.
The trade-off buried in the election of proceedings
Here is the part that changes how a case should be evaluated at the outset. The regulation at 19 CFR § 162.96 states that a person who accepts a remission or mitigation decision will not be considered to have substantially prevailed in a civil forfeiture proceeding for purposes of collecting any fees, costs, or interest from the government.
In plain terms: recover your money through the administrative petition process and you get the money, less any mitigation amount, less the costs of seizure and storage, and no interest and no fees. Recover it by substantially prevailing in court and fees and interest are on the table.
That is not an argument for going to court. The administrative route is faster, cheaper, more flexible, and the right choice in most cases. Courts have generally treated substantially prevailing as requiring a dismissal with prejudice, summary judgment, or a judgment on the merits; a settlement, a declination, or a dismissal without prejudice ordinarily does not qualify. But on a large seizure with strong documentation and a weak government theory, the availability of fees and interest is a real factor, and it belongs in the analysis before the election of proceedings form is signed rather than after.
Our pages on the petition for remission or mitigation and the CAFRA seized asset claim form set out what each route requires, and our page on how to get seized cash back from CBP covers the deadlines. Outcomes depend heavily on the specific facts and the documentation available.
Money or Property Seized by CBP?
The choice between the administrative and judicial routes should be made before you sign anything. Contact us for a confidential case evaluation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does CBP keep seized cash?
In a government suspense or holding account while the case is pending, not as physical bills at the port. If the money is forfeited, it is transferred as revenue into the Treasury Forfeiture Fund.
Is forfeited money auctioned like seized merchandise?
No. Destruction, auction, and official use are dispositions for merchandise. Currency becomes forfeited revenue and funds the forfeiture program, equitable sharing with participating state and local agencies, victim remissions, and the Treasury general fund.
Do I get interest on money CBP returns to me?
Not through the administrative petition process. Federal regulation provides that accepting a remission or mitigation decision means you have not substantially prevailed, which forecloses fees, costs, and interest. Those are available only to a claimant who substantially prevails in a civil forfeiture proceeding in court.
Can I get my attorney fees back from the government?
Only by substantially prevailing in a judicial forfeiture proceeding. Courts have generally required a dismissal with prejudice, summary judgment, or judgment on the merits; a settlement or a dismissal without prejudice ordinarily does not qualify.
Legal Disclaimer: This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it, or contacting Great Lakes Customs Law through this website, does not create an attorney-client relationship. Whether a claimant substantially prevails, and whether fees, costs, or interest are recoverable, depends on the procedural posture and the facts of the individual case and on how the reviewing court applies the governing standard. Nothing here should be read as a recommendation to elect judicial proceedings in any particular matter. Laws, regulations, and CBP procedures change, and the outcome of any customs seizure or forfeiture matter depends heavily on its specific facts and circumstances. No result is guaranteed or implied. You should consult a licensed attorney about your particular situation before taking or refraining from any action.