State Auditor David Kaschak has found a history of financial management and transparency problems in the Attorney General’s Law Enforcement Forfeiture Account, a fund used to hold and spend proceeds seized in criminal cases, according to an audit released on Wednesday.
The audit found that while most expenditures were related to law-enforcement activities, some transactions were not always judicious — dollars were spent on office renovations, and not police training — were sometimes not properly recorded, and, in some cases, failed to comply with proper accounting standards. The report also found that several significant deficiencies identified in a prior 2010 audit were never resolved.
The audit covered the period from July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2025, during the tenures of Attorney Generals Matt Platkin, Andrew Bruck and Gurbir Grewal.
“We need sunlight on civil asset forfeiture,” said Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris Plains).
The forfeiture account, known as AGLEFA, holds money and property seized by law enforcement while criminal cases are pending and after the forfeiture is finalized. According to the audit, the Department of Law and Public Safety reported forfeiture revenues of $1.5 million to $4.6 million annually during the audit period and spent as much as $4.6 million in a single year, primarily on confidential funds, equipment, and office renovations.
Auditors found that forfeiture revenue is not recognized when the state secures an enforceable legal claim, as required by Government Accounting Standards Board rules, but instead is recorded only when the Attorney General approves a spending project. As a result, revenues were underreported by more than $6.4 million in fiscal years 2022 through 2024 and overreported by $2.4 million in fiscal year 2025.
The report also focuses on concerns about transparency over seized cash.
As of December 2024, the attorney general’s office held more than $25.7 million in seized funds across 287 cash management accounts. These funds were not recorded as liabilities in the state’s accounting system and are instead reported within an investment trust fund; the auditor believes that structure limits public visibility into how the money is managed — ultimately distributed.
Auditors identified over two dozen cash management accounts that had remained open for more than ten years, holding a combined balance of $1.8 million. Twelve of the 28 accounts, totaling over $300,000, lacked documented justification for remaining open. The audit warned that long-dormant accounts increase the risk of misappropriation and weaken internal controls.
The report further found that approximately $350,000 in unclaimed funds from closed cases had not been transferred to the state’s Unclaimed Property Administration, as required by law. No such transfers have occurred since at least 2022, a backlog the department attributed to staffing shortages and competing priorities.
Additional findings include unresolved balances in clearing accounts dating back to at least 2010 and inadequate systems for tracking non-cash assets such as vehicles and equipment. Auditors could not confirm the location of nearly half of the non-cash assets reviewed.
The audit stated that the attorney general’s office retains interest earned on seized funds even when the underlying cash is returned to its owner, and questioned the heavy use of forfeiture funds for office renovations in leased properties, expenditures not explicitly authorized in statute.
Platkin agreed with certain findings, saying his office “is nearing completion of a multi-year effort to implement a new system that will provide the additional transparency recommended by the State Auditor.”
“That system will provide transparency through a publicly available dashboard once the implementation is complete,” he said.
Platkin acknowledged that the reviewing of cash management accounts “to ensure that they do not stay open any longer than is necessary.”
“The Division of Criminal Justice and the Financial Management Office will work together to draft guidelines and a procedure that will document the CMA review process and provide timelines for closure,” stated Platkin. “In addition, DCJ has already made significant operational changes to enhance management of the related functions, including staffing a dedicated forfeiture unit within DCJ and centralizing property management functions within that unit.”
But Platkin pushed back slightly on criticism that his office retains interest earned from seized cash that is eventually returned to its owners.
“All funds expended from AGLEFA are done so in accordance with New Jersey law and with the approval of the Attorney General,” he said.
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