With the bill expanding Patriot Act rights moving full speed through Congress this week, people sound surpised--as if they thought things were going to get better. We think they will get worse. The Victory Act has yet to be introduced, but that doesn't mean it's dead:

“Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations Act of 2003” or the VICTORY Act”.

Certain provisions in the draft bill expand the scope of money laundering offenses, increase the government’s ability to seize and forfeit assets, and increase the use of administrative subpoenas. Among the objectionable provisions are those that:

• Change the requirement that in order to obtain a conviction for money laundering and forfeiture the government must prove that the defendant conducted a transaction with the proceeds of a specified unlawful activity.

• Create an offense for someone to transport more than $10,000 in interstate commerce without having to prove that the money came from a particular crime and that the defendant actually knew the money was illegal proceeds.

• Authorize the Attorney General to freeze bank accounts for investigation and without proof that may be subject to forfeiture.

• Authorize the pretrial restraint of substitute assets.

• Diminish the due process protections presently afforded under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act, Pub. L No 106-185, 114 Stat. 202, 106th Cong.
  (2000).

• Extend the Attorney General’s ability to use administrative subpoenas to any investigation with respect to terrorism or the apprehension of a fugitive, that is, anyone accused or convicted of committing any federal or state felony.