The Attorney General has established the following policy on the handling of seized cash:

Seized cash, except where it is to be used as evidence, is to be deposited promptly in the Seized Asset Deposit Fund pending forfeiture. The Chief of MNF may grant exceptions to this policy in extraordinary circumstances. Transfer of cash to the United States Marshal should occur within 60 days of seizure or 10 days of indictment.

(Paragraph VII (1), Attorney General's Guidelines on Seized and Forfeited Property, July 1990.) This policy applies to all cash seized for purposes of forfeiture. Therefore, all currency seized that is subject to criminal forfeiture or to civil forfeiture, must be delivered to the United States Marshals Service (USMS) for deposit in the USMS Seized Asset Deposit Fund either within 60 days after seizure or 10 days after indictment, whichever occurs first. (This policy does not apply to the recovery of buy money advanced from appropriated funds. To the extent practical, negotiable instruments and foreign currency should be converted and deposited.) Where appropriate, photographs or videotapes of the seized cash should be taken for later use in court as evidence.

If the amount of seized cash to be retained for evidentiary purposes is less than $5000, permission need not be sought from the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section for an exception, but any exception granted must be granted at a supervisory level within a United States Attorney's Office using the aforementioned criteria. (The criteria and procedure for obtaining exemptions remains the same for cash retained by Customs.)

If the amount of seized cash to be retained for evidentiary purposes is $5000 or greater, the request for an exemption must be forwarded to MNF. Requests for an exemption should be filed by the United States Attorney's Office or Criminal Division Section responsible for prosecuting, or reviewing for prosecution, a particular case. The request should include a brief statement of the factors warranting its retention and the name, position, and phone number of the individual to contact regarding the request.

Limited exceptions to this directive, including extensions of applicable time limits, will be granted, on an interim basis, only with the express written permission of the Chief of MNF, Criminal Division. Retention of currency will be permitted when retention of that currency, or a portion thereof, serves a significant independent, tangible, evidentiary purpose due to, for example, the presence of fingerprints, packaging in an incriminating fashion, or the existence of a traceable amount of narcotic residue on the bills. Avoidance of the effect of a court order is not a significant evidentiary purpose. If only a portion of the seized cash has evidentiary value, only that portion with evidentiary value should be retained. The balance should be deposited in accordance with Department policy. See Chapter 1 of the Asset Forfeiture Policy Manual ("Seized Cash Management") at 31.

[updated January 2026] [cited in JM 9-2.400; 9-119.010]