A federal judge in Miami, Florida, approved the forfeiture of $110 million in U.S. banks that prosecutors say was the proceeds of a 20-year-old public corruption case involving the bribery of Italian judges.
Under the initiative, the organizations will provide training and aid for developing countries seeking to recover funds stolen by corrupt leaders and transferred to financial institutions in foreign jurisdictions.
More than $257 million was added to Treasury's Asset Forfeiture Fund for fiscal year 2006 from the government's confiscation of assets from criminal activities like money laundering and drug dealing.
The family of former Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Alemán lost a legal battle to retain $740,000 in bank certificates after a Miami judge determined that Alemán and an associate purchased them with money they looted from the country’s coffers.
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