In 2023, French justice seized 1.444 billion euros from offenders as part of criminal investigations. A record sum, up 87% over one year. The Agency for the Management and Recovery of Seized and Confiscated Assets (Agrasc), created in 2011, plays a central role in the management of this little-known aspect of the criminal response. Its new director, Vanessa Perrée, in office since January, wishes to further amplify this trend by raising awareness among all those involved in the criminal justice chain.
What does the sum of 1.444 billion euros seized by the courts last year cover?
Vanessa Perrée: More than half, or 734 million euros, corresponds to financial assets, such as bank accounts, debts or life insurance. This is followed by real estate (nearly 605 million euros) and cash amounts (100 million euros).
This record toll was driven by the extraordinary case of British businessman Adrien Labi, from whom French justice seized more than 461 million euros in the context of a case of tax fraud in real estate…
It is certain that this file has an impact on our figures, since it alone represents a third of the seizures. Each year, one or more unusual investigations can result in the seizure of significant amounts.
But even without this file, the figures have been increasing steadily since 2020, when “only” 593 million euros were seized. The small amounts that the police can seize – 50 euros here, 100 euros there for a street vendor – constitute ultimately a very important flow for us.
A convincing illustration is the increase in seizures of cryptoassets: the number of files increased from just one in 2014 to forty-two in 2023. Each file concerns very large wallets, mainly in bitcoins and ethereums, but also in USDT (Tether), Monero or Tron. In 2023, a file made it possible to seize the equivalent of 17 million euros.
What happens to these assets once seized?
Seizure is only a provisional and protective measure, which allows assets to be kept under surveillance during the investigation. But for the assets to be definitively confiscated from the offenders, a court judgment is required. This is not automatic, because, in certain cases, due to lack of sufficient evidence, confiscations are not made.
There is also a time lag between the seizure and the judgment of the case, which explains why the amounts confiscated in 2023 are eight times lower than the seizures.
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