But the Justice Department recently advised its prosecutors to be more judicious in pursuing civil forfeiture actions — and even criminal cases — against car export companies and their owners.
“Over the past year, we have been engaged in a comprehensive review of the asset forfeiture program, including straw-buyer luxury export cases and other aspects of the program,” said Peter Carr, a Justice Department spokesman, in an emailed statement. “As a result of this ongoing review, the department is encouraging prosecutors to pursue civil and criminal sanctions for straw-buyer fraud cases that lead to other criminal violations, such as tax fraud, identify theft fraud and the submission of false export documents.”
In practice, that means using a straw buyer alone to buy a car may not be enough evidence for government agents to seize a vehicle from an export company, said people briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.