1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Time Is Time, but Money Is Money May 26, 2020 Introduction In United States v. Saccoccia, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (First Circuit) recently refused to vacate a 1993 judgmen
2、t ordering Stephen Saccocciawho is serving a 660-year prison sentence for money launderingto forfeit $136 million to the government, the amount of money that Saccoccia and others had laundered through bank accounts that Saccoccia controlled. Saccoccia did not ask the court to overturn his conviction
3、s or to shorten his prison sentence. He sought only the return of the $136 million he forfeited as a consequence of his convictions. Saccoccia argued that the Supreme Courts 2017 decision in United States v. Honeycuttwhich held that the doctrine of joint-and-several liability does not apply to feder
4、al forfeiture actions arising from drug crimesshould be read to retroactively invalidate the forfeiture order in his case. The First Circuit rejected that argument, holding that Saccoccia would not be entitled to relief even if Honeycutt applied retroactively. Background Saccoccia owned a string of