a record 1.44 billion euros in criminal seizures in 2023, announces Éric Dupond Moretti

The amount of assets seized by the courts jumped by 87% between 2022 and 2023, according to the Minister of Justice.

The amount of assets seized by French justice exceeded one billion euros for the first time in 2023, with nearly 1.44 billion euros in criminal seizures, the Minister of Defense announced on Thursday February 8. Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti during a trip to a seal warehouse in Paris which franceinfo attended.

This is an increase of 87% compared to 2022 and a record, said the Minister of Justice. In 2022, the amount reached 771 million euros. Furthermore, 175 million euros entered state coffers via confiscations. 731 buildings were seized in 2023 compared to 665 in 2022 and 163 sold for an amount of 33.3 million euros.

Éric Dupond-Moretti salutes the work of justice “which allows us to show citizens that ill-gotten goods never profit. Justice will continue relentlessly to hit the delinquents in the wallet, by seizing and selling the goods confiscated for the benefit of the State and the victims, or by handing them over to associations of general interest.

Buildings, luxury watches or even drugs

It is the Agency for the Management and Recovery of Seized and Confiscated Assets (Agrasc) which manages these criminal seizures. This agency, placed under the dual supervision of the Ministries of Justice and Finance, centralizes and manages the sums seized in the context of criminal proceedings, it also manages the property entrusted to it and also ensures the payment of the proceeds of the sale.

The sums of money collected are allocated to the state budget, investigation services and even associations. Regarding the goods seized, they can be very diverse: buildings, cars, luxury watches, or even drugs.