ORDER
The court has carefully reviewed the report and recommendation of Magistrate Judge Gold in this case and these objections. It hereby adopts the recommendation in its entirety substantially for the reasons stated in the report. The court does note that, at the time of sentence in plaintiffs criminal case, this court was aware that agents had seized approximately $16,000 at the time of plaintiffs arrest. It understood that plaintiff attributed this money to Mo Ren Chu, the boyfriend who orchestrated the heroin transaction in her case. Thus, it appeared that it was Chu’s money — not plaintiffs — that was seized. (See PSR ¶ 5). Had the court understood at the time of sentence that plaintiff was claiming these monies as her own, it would undoubtedly have imposed a fine or ordered restitution to the Treasury for CJA fees incurred for plaintiffs defense. Motion to dismiss as to currency granted. Jewelry to be sent to address provided on or before 3/29/96.
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
GOLD, United States Magistrate Judge.
Plaintiff Ye Wen Hong, proceeding pro se, brings this action seeking the return of currency and property seized from her by law enforcement officers when she was arrested on January 28, 1993. The government has moved to dismiss. By order dated July 12, 1995, the Honorable Reena Raggi referred this matter to me for report and recommendation. For the reasons set forth below, I respectfully recommend that the government’s motion to dismiss be granted.
BACKGROUND
On January 28,1993, plaintiff was arrested and charged with possessing and intending to distribute drugs. At the time of her arrest, agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) seized $16,306 in currency and various items of jewelry from plaintiff.
After plaintiffs arrest, the government initiated forfeiture proceedings against the $16,-306 in currency pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 881. On March 22, 1993, the DEA sent plaintiff written notice of its intent to forfeit the seized currency. The notice was sent via certified mail, return receipt requested, to the jail where plaintiff was then incarcerated. See Declaration of William J. Snider, ¶ 4(b), submitted with Defendant’s Memorandum of *314 Law (“Snider Decl.”); Notice of Seizure, Snider Decl. Ex. 1. Plaintiff apparently received the notice of seizure letter at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (“MCC”) on March 26,1993. See Snider Decl., ¶ 4(b); Postal Receipt Card, Snider Decl. Ex. 2. 1 Notice of the seizure was also published in USA Today, a newspaper of general circulation in the Eastern District of New York, for three consecutive weeks beginning on March 31, 1993. Snider Decl. 14(b) and Ex. 13.
Both the notice of seizure letter and the publication notice explained that a claimant could challenge the forfeiture action in federal court by filing a claim and cost bond, or an affidavit of indigency in lieu of the cost bond, within twenty days of the first publication of the notice of the seizure. The notices also explained that a claimant had the right to file a petition seeking remission or mitigation of the forfeiture within thirty days of receiving the notice. See Notice of the Seizure, Snider Decl. Ex. 1; Publication Notice, Snider Decl. Ex. 13.
On May 7, 1993, not having received a properly filed claim or response from plaintiff within the twenty-day statutory period, the DEA issued a Declaration of Forfeiture with respect to the $16,306 in currency. See Declaration of Forfeiture, Snider Decl. Ex. 14.
On March 9,1995, plaintiff filed this action seeking the return of her currency. 2 Plaintiff asserts that the government violated her right to due process by failing to give her proper notice of the seizure and by forfeiting her money without first holding a hearing to determine whether it was the proceeds of illegal activity. Finally, plaintiff claims that the currency was taken from her in violation of the Double Jeopardy and Excessive Fines Clauses of the Fifth and Eighth Amendments. See Plaintiffs Statement of Claims at 5.
The government has moved to dismiss on the ground that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction because plaintiffs currency was the subject of a properly executed administrative forfeiture. The government further contends that the administrative forfeiture did not violate the Double Jeopardy or Excessive Fines Clauses of the Constitution.
DISCUSSION
The Jewelry
Plaintiff claims that DEA agents seized various items of jewelry from her at the time of her arrest. Specifically, plaintiff claims that agents seized a Rolex watch, a Christian Dior watch, a gold neekchain and an ankle bracelet. See Plaintiffs Statement of Claims, Ex. 2. The government concedes that this property was seized from plaintiff upon her arrest and never forfeited, and states that it will be returned as soon as plaintiff provides an address where the property may be sent. See Defendant’s Memorandum of Law at 3, n. 2. Accordingly, I respectfully recommend that plaintiff be directed to provide the government with the requested information by February 23, 1996, and that the government be directed to return plaintiffs property to the designated address no later than thirty days thereafter.
The Currency
I. Jurisdiction Over Plaintiff’s Claim
Plaintiffs primary claim is that the DEA’s forfeiture of her currency was invalid and denied her due process because the DEA *315 failed to provide her with proper notice of the forfeiture and failed to hold a hearing to determine whether the currency was derived from plaintiffs illegal conduct. The government contends that the forfeiture was procedurally proper and statutorily authorized, and that the district court therefore lacks jurisdiction to review its merits.
It is well-settled that, once the administrative process has begun, the
res
subject to forfeiture is removed from the district court. As a result, the court’s jurisdiction is limited to a review of the procedural propriety of the forfeiture.
See Toure v. United States,
As indicated in the Declaration of Forfeiture, plaintiffs currency was seized pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 881. Section 881(a)(6) renders currency involved in narcotics transactions subject to forfeiture. Forfeitures pursuant to Section 881 are governed by the procedures applicable to forfeitures of property for violation of the customs laws. 21 U.S.C. § 881(d). These procedures are set forth in 19 U.S.C. §§ 1602-1619.
See also
21 C.F.R. §§ 1316.75-1316.79. As provided in these sections, an agency’s initiation of administrative forfeiture proceedings divests the district court of jurisdiction unless an interested party files a claim and posts a bond, or submits proof of financial inability to post a bond, within twenty days of the date on which notice of the seizure is published. 19 U.S.C. § 1608; 21 C.F.R. § 1316.76 (1994); 19 C.F.R. § 162.47(e).
See Linarez v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 2
F.3d 208, 211 (7th Cir.1993). If a claimant chooses not to file a claim and post a bond within the allotted period of time, an administrative forfeiture occurs by default and may not be challenged in district court. 19 U.S.C. § 1609(a); 21 C.F.R. § 1316.77.
See also One 1987 Jeep Wrangler,
II. Plaintiff’s Notice and Hearing Claims
A district court retains jurisdiction, even after administrative proceedings have begun, to hear a claim that a forfeiture proceeding was procedurally deficient.
Toure,
Plaintiff first challenges the adequacy of the notice provided to her by the government. Plaintiff acknowledges that she received papers pertaining to the forfeiture proceeding while detained at the MCC. 3 See Plaintiffs Objections to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss at 2. Plaintiff nevertheless asserts that the notice of forfeiture provided to her was inadequate because it was in English. Plaintiff argues that her primary language is Cantonese, and that her inability to understand the English-language notice therefore denied her the right to contest the forfeiture in violation of her due process rights. See Plaintiffs Objections to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss at 2.
In
Toure,
the Second Circuit explicitly held that an English-language notice satisfies the requirements of procedural due process, even when the recipient of the notice does not understand English and is incarcerated and therefore unable to obtain a translation easily.
Plaintiff also asserts that the notice was deficient because due process requires that the government not merely rely upon publication notice to inform plaintiff of the forfeiture proceeding. Plaintiffs Objections to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss at 2. Plaintiffs contention that the government improperly relied upon publication as the only form of notice fails, however, because as plaintiff has acknowledged, she received the notice at the MCC but was unable to understand it.
Moreover, in this case the notice provided to plaintiff would have been more than adequate even if she had never actually received it. To satisfy due process, notice must be “reasonably calculated” to notify the claimant of the proceeding.
See, e.g., Weigner v. New York,
In this ease, in addition to the notice of seizure published in
USA Today
for three successive weeks, the DEA sent several notices via certified mail to plaintiff at her last known address under various names. Snider Decl., ¶ 4. In addition, the DEA sent plaintiff notice at the MCC while she was incarcerated there, and received a return receipt indicating that the letter had reached its destination. Snider Deck Ex. 2. In light of the government’s repeated good faith efforts to notify plaintiff, the notice provided to plaintiff here was plainly reasonable. Moreover, although plaintiff does not specifically challenge the adequacy of the contents of the notice provided to her, this Court notes that the information contained in the notice is essentially identical to that communicated by the notice deemed constitutionally sufficient in
Sterling v. United States,
Plaintiff next claims that she was denied due process because the government failed to hold a hearing to determine whether the currency seized at the time of her arrest was the product of illegal activity. Plaintiffs Statement of Claims at 4. Plaintiff indicates that, had such a hearing been held, she would have demonstrated that the currency in issue was money she won playing Baccarat in Atlantic City and money she earned singing in a night club. See Plaintiff’s Aff. ¶¶ 4-6.
A forfeiture may not be challenged in district court on any basis which could have been raised in an administrative proceeding.
See Linarez v. United States Dep’t of Justice,
*317 III. Plaintiff’s Double Jeopardy Claim
Plaintiff claims that the forfeiture of her property violated the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment because “it subjected her to a second punishment ... not imposed by the sentencing court.” Plaintiffs Statement of Claims at 5. The final declaration of forfeiture, however, was issued on May 7, 1993, prior to plaintiffs criminal trial. See Declaration of Forfeiture, Snider Decl. Ex. 14. The jury which heard plaintiffs criminal case was sworn on May 25, 1993, and returned its guilty verdict the following day. Plaintiff was sentenced on December 9, 1993. See Docket Entries Numbers 30, 34, 35 and 47 in 93-CR-268(RR). Because the forfeiture preceded both plaintiffs criminal trial and sentencing, it cannot, as plaintiff contends, constitute a second punishment.
Even if plaintiffs criminal case had been completed prior to the issuance of the declaration of forfeiture, plaintiffs double jeopardy claim would nevertheless fail. The Double Jeopardy Clause protects against multiple punishments for the same offense.
United States v. Halper,
In
Halper,
the Supreme Court held that whether a civil sanction constitutes punishment for purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause depends upon the purposes served by the sanction, and that labels such as “criminal” and “civil” are not controlling.
The task of determining whether a particular civil sanction constitutes punishment requires an individualized determination.
See Halper,
Neither the Supreme Court nor the Second Circuit has squarely decided whether the forfeiture of proceeds of narcotics sales pursuant to § 881(a)(6) constitutes punishment for purposes of double jeopardy. 5 A number of circuits, however, applying Halper, have held that the forfeiture of illegal proceeds is wholly remedial and not disproportionate to *318 the costs imposed on the government and society by the underlying criminal conduct.
For example, in
United States v. Tilley,
[t]he forfeiture of proceeds of illegal drug sales serves the wholly remedial purpose of reimbursing the government for the costs of detection, investigation, and prosecution of drug traffickers and reimbursing society for the costs of combatting the allure of illegal drugs, caring for the victims of the criminal trade when preventative efforts prove unsuccessful, lost productivity, etc.
Id. at 299.
The . court in
Tilley
further held that, even absent this “rough proportionality,” the forfeiture of illegal drug proceeds does not constitute “punishment” because “[w]hen ... the property taken by the government [is] not derived from lawful activities, the forfeiting party loses nothing to which the law ever entitled him.”
The Ninth Circuit, however, has taken a different view. Basing its decision on the Supreme Court’s analysis in
Austin v. United States,
In
Austin,
the Supreme Court held that forfeitures under §§ 881(a)(4) and (a)(7)— sections which apply to means of transportation and real estate used in drug transactions — constitute punishment for purposes of the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment. The Court based its holding on the “historical understanding of forfeiture as punishment,” .the availability of an “innocent owner” defense pursuant to §§ 881(a)(4) and (a)(7), and references to punishment in the legislative history of § 881. 509 U.S. at ---,
In
United States v. $405,089.23,
the Ninth Circuit interpreted
Austin
to hold that whether a forfeiture constitutes punishment
*319
requires examination of “the entire scope” of the statute involved and not the particulars of the case in issue.
As discussed above, several circuits have found forfeitures under § 881(a)(6) to be entirely remedial. These circuits, in contrast to the Ninth Circuit, have declined to extend
Austin’s
categorical or “entire [statutory] scope” approach beyond the confines of the Eight Amendment and §§ 881(a)(4) and (7), and have instead continued to follow
Halper’s
case-by-case approach for determining whether a particular civil forfeiture is punitive or remedial. In
Tilley,
for example, the Fifth Circuit concluded that the Court’s concern in
Austin
— that the forfeiture of conveyances under § 881(a)(4) and real estate under § 881(a)(7) could be wildly disproportionate to, and have no correlation with, the costs incurred by the government and society by the underlying criminal conduct — was inapplicable to forfeitures of drug proceeds pursuant to § 881(a)(6).
the forfeiture of drug proceeds will always be directly proportional to the amount of drugs sold. The more drugs sold, the more proceeds that will be forfeited. [TJhese proceeds are roughly proportional to the harm inflicted upon government and society by the drug sale.
Id.; See also United States v. Perez,
Although it has not taken a clear position on whether forfeitures pursuant to § 881(a)(6) constitute punishment, the Second Circuit has had a recent occasion to consider the impact of the
Austin
holding on the continued viability of the Double Jeopardy analysis in
Halper. See United States v. All Assets of G.P.S. Automotive Corp.,
Prior holdings of the Second Circuit, however, are consistent with the
Tilley
Court’s conclusion that forfeitures of narcotics proceeds pursuant to § 881(a)(6) do not constitute punishment.
See United States v. 38 Whalers Cove Drive,
This Court finds the analysis in Tilley to be persuasive and consistent with Austin, Halper and applicable Second Circuit precedent, and accordingly concludes that the seizure of plaintiffs currency, which was subse *320 quently forfeited pursuant to § 881(a)(6), does not constitute punishment. Moreover, the forfeiture in this case is clearly not disproportionate to the underlying criminal conduct. Plaintiff was charged with possessing and intending to distribute almost four kilograms of heroin. • See United States v. Ye Wen Hong, 93-190M, Criminal Complaint at ¶2. A forfeiture of $16,306 is plainly not disproportionate to the costs of investigating and prosecuting plaintiffs criminal conduct, or to the social costs imposed by the distribution of such a substantial amount of drugs. Finally, as noted above, the declaration of forfeiture was issued before plaintiffs criminal trial began and before her sentence was imposed. For these reasons, I respectfully recommend that plaintiffs double jeopardy claim be dismissed.
IV. Plaintiff’s Eighth Amendment Claim
Plaintiffs final claim is that the forfeiture of her currency violates the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment. Because this Court lacks jurisdiction over plaintiffs action, plaintiffs Eighth Amendment claim should be dismissed.
See Lopes v. United States,
Even if plaintiffs Eight Amendment claim were properly before the Court, it would be rejected. Plaintiff contends that the Supreme Court’s decision in
Austin
compels the conclusion that the forfeiture of her currency is an excessive punishment under the Eighth Amendment.
See
Plaintiffs Statement of Claims at 5. In
Austin,
the Court ruled that the Excessive Fines Clause applies to all forfeitures pursuant to Sections 881(a)(4) and (a)(7) because “forfeiture under these provisions constitutes ‘payment to a sovereign as punishment for some offense.’ ” 509 U.S. at -,
This Court, for the reasons discussed above, concludes that the forfeiture of plaintiffs currency pursuant to § 881(a)(6) does not constitute punishment. Plaintiffs Eighth Amendment claim should, therefore, be dismissed.
See United States v. $21,282,
Even if the forfeiture of plaintiffs currency were punishment, it would not violate the Eighth Amendment because it was not excessive. The Second Circuit has set forth a “multi-factor test” for determining when a forfeiture is constitutionally excessive.
See All Assets of G.P.S. Automotive Corp.,
(1) the harshness of the forfeiture (e.g., the nature and value of the property and the effect of forfeiture on innocent third parties) in comparison to (a) the gravity of the offense, and (b) the sentence that could be imposed on the perpetrator of such an offense; (2) the relationship between the property and the offense, including whether use of the property in the offense was (a) important to the success of the illegal activity, (b) deliberate and planned or merely incidental and fortuitous, and (c) temporally or spatially extensive; and (3) the role and degree of culpability of the owner of the property.
Applying these factors to the instant case, it is clear that the forfeiture of plaintiff’s currency was not excessive. First, the forfeiture of plaintiffs $16,306 was proportional to the severity of the underlying crime and the statutory fines which could have been imposed. Having been convicted after a jury trial of four felony narcotics charges, Ye Wen Hong was subject to a fine of at least $16,-
*321
000,000.
See
21 U.S.C. §§ 960(b)(1)(A) and 841(b)(1)(A)(i). Thus, in light of the Second Circuit’s acknowledgment that “a fine of many thousands of dollars for a minor drug offense is not beyond the pale,” the forfeiture of plaintiffs $16,306 was “not a grossly disproportionate punishment within the meaning of the Eighth Amendment.”
Whalers Cove,
Finally, the relationship between the forfeited currency and the underlying narcotics offenses was sufficiently strong to sustain the forfeiture against an Excessive Fines Clause challenge. As stated above, Ye Wen Hong’s currency was forfeited pursuant to § 881(a)(6) as drug proceeds after a complete and uncontested administrative proceeding. Therefore, because the forfeiture of plaintiffs currency was proportional to the severity of the underlying offenses and the potential statutory fines for such conduct, and because the forfeited currency was sufficiently connected to these offenses, this Court respectfully recommends that Ye Wen Hong’s Eight Amendment claim be dismissed.
CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated above, I respectfully recommend that defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiffs claims concerning the forfeiture of her currency be granted. I further recommend that defendant be required to return plaintiffs jewelry no later than thirty days after plaintiff designates an address to which the jewelry should be sent. Any objections to the recommendations contained herein should be filed with the Clerk of the Court and with the chambers of the Honorable Reena Raggi within ten days of receipt of this report, but in any event no later then February 23, 1996. Failure to object to this report may waive' the right to appeal the district court order.
See
28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); Fed.R.Civ.P. 6(a), 6(e), 72;
Small v. Secretary of Health and Human Services,
Notes
. On March 22, 1993, the DEA sent four other notice of seizure letters via certified mail, return receipt requested, to plaintiff at 42-08 Forley Street, Queens, New York under four different names. All four letters were unclaimed and marked “returned to the sender”. See Snider Decl. Exs. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, and 12.
. Plaintiff alleges in her complaint that she seeks relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. By its express terms, however, § 1983 does not apply to actions of the federal government or its officers.
See, e.g., Murray v. United States Dep't of Justice,
. Plaintiff, while acknowledging that she received "some papers” at the MCC, does not explicitly state what papers she received from the DEA. However, because plaintiff refers to these papers in the course of contesting the constitutionality of the notice provided to her by the DEA, and because there is no indication that any documents other than the Notice of Seizure were sent to plaintiff at the MCC, it is clear that the reference in plaintiff’s memorandum is to the Seizure Notice.
. Section 881(a)(6) provides in part:
(а) The following shall be subject to forfeiture to the United States and no property right shall exist in them:
(б) All moneys ... or other things of value furnished or intended to be furnished by any person in exchange for a controEed substance in violation of this subchapter, all proceeds traceable to such an exchange, and aE moneys, negotiable instruments, and securities used or intended to be used to facilitate any violations of this subchapter ...
21 U.S.C. § 881(a)(6) (1988).
. The Supreme court has recently granted certiorari in two civil forfeiture actions which raise the question of whether punishment has been imposed for purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause.
See United States v. Ursery,
