Provides for the seizure and forfeiture of vehicles, vessels and aircraft used in counterfeit goods; establishes this shall not apply to vehicles, vessels, or aircrafts that are used by any person as a common carrier in the transaction of business as such common carrier.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5885
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 3, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. LANZA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to the seizure and forfeiture
of vehicles, vessels and aircraft used in counterfeit goods
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The penal law is amended by adding a new article 166 to
2 read as follows:
3 ARTICLE 166
4 SEIZURE AND FORFEITURE OF VEHICLES, VESSELS AND
5 AIRCRAFT USED IN COUNTERFEIT GOODS
6 Section 166.00 Seizure and forfeiture of vehicles, vessels and aircraft
7 used in counterfeit goods.
8 § 166.00 Seizure and forfeiture of vehicles, vessels and aircraft used
9 in counterfeit goods.
10 1. Any vehicle, vessel or aircraft which has been or is being used in
11 violation of section 165.71, 165.72, or 165.73 of this title shall be
12 seized by any peace officer, who is acting pursuant to such peace offi-
13 cer's special duties, or police officer, and forfeited as provided in
14 this section. However, such forfeiture and seizure provisions shall not
15 apply to any vehicle, vessel or aircraft used by any person as a common
16 carrier in the transaction of business as such common carrier.
17 2. The seized property shall be delivered by the police officer or
18 peace officer having made the seizure to the custody of the district
19 attorney of the county wherein the seizure was made, together with a
20 report of all the facts and circumstances of the seizure.
21 3. It shall be the duty of the district attorney of the county wherein
22 the seizure is made, to inquire into the facts of the seizure so
23 reported to such district attorney and if it appears probable that a
24 forfeiture has been incurred by reason of a violation of section 165.71,
25 165.72, or 165.73 of this title, for the determination of which the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03593-01-5
S. 5885 2
1 institution of proceedings in the supreme court is necessary, to cause
2 the proper proceedings to be commenced and prosecuted, at any time after
3 thirty days from the date of the seizure, to declare such forfeiture,
4 unless, upon inquiry and examination, such district attorney or corpo-
5 ration counsel decides that such proceedings can not probably be
6 sustained or that the ends of public justice do not require that they
7 should be instituted or prosecuted, in which case, the district attorney
8 or corporation counsel shall cause such seized property to be returned
9 to the owner thereof.
10 4. Notice of the institution of the forfeiture proceeding shall be
11 served either (a) personally on the owners of the seized property, or
12 (b) by registered mail to the owners' last known address and by publica-
13 tion of the notice once a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper
14 published or circulated in the county wherein the seizure was made.
15 5. Forfeiture shall not be adjudged where the owners establish by
16 preponderance of the evidence that (a) the use of such seized property,
17 in violation of section 165.71, 165.72, or 165.73 of this title, was not
18 intentional on the part of any owner, or (b) such seized property was
19 used in violation of section 165.71, 165.72, or 165.73 of this title, by
20 any person other than an owner thereof, while such seized property was
21 unlawfully in the possession of a person who acquired possession thereof
22 in violation of the criminal laws of the United States, or of any state.
23 6. The district attorney or the police department having custody of
24 the seized property, after such judicial determination of forfeiture,
25 shall, at their discretion, either retain such seized property for the
26 official use of their office or department, or, by a public notice of at
27 least five days, sell such forfeited property at public sale. The net
28 proceeds of any such sale, after deduction of the lawful expenses
29 incurred, shall be paid into the general fund of the county wherein the
30 seizure was made.
31 7. Whenever any person interested in any property which is seized and
32 declared forfeited under the provisions of this section files with a
33 justice of the supreme court a petition for the recovery of such
34 forfeited property, the justice of the supreme court may restore such
35 forfeited property upon such terms and conditions as such justice of the
36 supreme court deems reasonable and just, if the petitioner establishes
37 either of the affirmative defenses set forth in subdivision five of this
38 section and that the petitioner was without personal or actual knowledge
39 of the forfeiture proceeding. If the petition is filed after the sale of
40 the forfeited property, any judgment in favor of the petitioner shall be
41 limited to the net proceeds of such sale after deduction of the lawful
42 expenses and costs incurred by the district attorney, police department
43 or corporation counsel.
44 8. No suit or action under this section for wrongful seizure shall be
45 instituted unless such suit or action is commenced within two years
46 after the time when the property was seized.
47 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
48 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
