United States v. Swartz Family Trust, 67 F.4th 505 (2d Cir. 2023)
The Second Circuit reaffirmed the fundamental principle that criminal forfeiture is limited to property in which the defendant has an interest, setting up a potential clash with the government’s recent attempts to forfeit any and all property alleged to have a nexus to the criminal activity, regardless of who owns it, in violation of the in personam jurisdictional limitations of criminal forfeiture and the principles underlying Rule 32.2 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Unfortunately, the Court did not follow its previous precedent and affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of the Swartz Family Trust’s Petition due to its filing beyond the statutory time limit.