It is the policy of the United States to encourage international asset sharing and to recognize all foreign assistance that facilitates U.S. forfeitures so far as consistent with U.S. law. International sharing is governed by 18 U.S.C. § 981(i), 21 U.S.C. § 882(e)(1)(E), and 31 U.S.C. § 9703(h)(2), and is often guided by standing international sharing agreements or the subject of a future case-specific forfeiture sharing arrangement to be negotiated by MNF and approved by the Department of State. The decision to share assets forfeited to the United States with a foreign government is a completely discretionary function of the Attorney General or the Secretary of the Treasury. It requires the concurrence of the Secretary of State, and, in certain circumstances, it is a decision that can be vetoed by Congress. The 1992 international sharing memorandum of understanding between the Departments of State, Justice, and Treasury expressly prohibits investigators or prosecutors from making representations to foreign officials "that assets will be transferred in a particular case, until an international agreement and commitment to transfer assets have been approved by the Secretary of State and the Attorney General or the Secretary of the Treasury." Prosecutors and federal law enforcement agencies always should be mindful that any domestic sharing occurs after all international sharing is completed, and that the domestic sharing of assets located abroad will occur from and come out of the federal share, which is the amount of money that the United States has available after completion of the international sharing process. Thus, federal prosecutors and investigators should take care not to make any representations about the sharing of forfeitable assets located abroad or forfeited domestically with the assistance of a foreign government to either representatives of the foreign government or any of the domestic law enforcement partners whose assistance may have contributed to the seizure and ultimate forfeiture of the assets in question.

Foreign governments are not required to follow a specific process to submit a sharing request to the United States. They may do so pursuant to a treaty, a sharing agreement, or even via other diplomatic or law enforcement channels. Prosecutors and law enforcement agencies can and should make spontaneous sharing recommendations whenever they receive foreign assistance that facilitated the forfeiture of an asset in a U.S. case, particularly when that asset is located in the United States. When the United States forfeits assets in a judicial forfeiture case with the help of a foreign state and the seizing agency is a Department of Justice component or participant in the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund, it is the responsibility of the federal prosecutor assigned to the case to send a formal sharing recommendation to MNF. In an administrative forfeiture matter, the seizing agency is responsible for the recommendation. In cases that implicate the Treasury Forfeiture Fund (TFF), the seizing agency, e.g., Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Secret Service, Customs and Border Protection, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has the responsibility to send a sharing recommendation to the Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture (TEOAF). However, the seizing agency should consult the prosecutor on the case first. For Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund international sharing recommendations, MNF prepares the sharing recommendations for approval by the Deputy Attorney General. For Treasury Forfeiture Fund international sharing recommendations, the director of TEOAF approves the sharing recommendations. MNF and TEOAF also obtain State Department and each other's concurrence for each proposed transfer to a foreign government after it is approved by their respective designees. This interagency process can be lengthy. To avoid delays, it is advisable to make the international sharing recommendation as soon as is practicable, or immediately after the final order forfeiting the foreign assets is obtained. At the earliest possible time, the seizing agency should note in CATS, or the tracking system for a particular TFF agency, that a particular asset might be, is, or will be subject to an international sharing request or recommendation—and definitely before that asset has been liquidated. See Chapter 10 of the Asset Forfeiture Policy Manual.

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