18 U.S.C. § 1594
Section 1594 · General provisions
This is § 112 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 95 court decisions — leading case United States v. Sabhnani (2010)
Most recently applied in United States v. Concepcion (June 2025)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whoever attempts to violate section 1581, 1583, 1584, 1589, 1590, or 1591 shall be punishable in the same manner as a completed violation of that section.
Whoever conspires with another to violate section 1581, 1583, 1589, 1590, or 1592 shall be punished in the same manner as a completed violation of such section.
Whoever conspires with another to violate section 1591 shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both.
The court, in imposing sentence on any person convicted of a violation of this chapter, shall order, in addition to any other sentence imposed and irrespective of any provision of State law, that such person shall forfeit to the United States—
such person’s interest in any property, real or personal, that was involved in, used, or intended to be used to commit or to facilitate the commission of such violation, and any property traceable to such property; and
any property, real or personal, constituting or derived from, any proceeds that such person obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of such violation, or any property traceable to such property.
The following shall be subject to forfeiture to the United States and no property right shall exist in them:
Any property, real or personal, involved in, used, or intended to be used to commit or to facilitate the commission of any violation of this chapter, and any property traceable to such property.
Any property, real or personal, which constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to any violation of this chapter.
The provisions of chapter 46 of this title relating to civil forfeitures shall extend to any seizure or civil forfeiture under this subsection.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Attorney General shall transfer assets forfeited pursuant to this section, or the proceeds derived from the sale thereof, to satisfy victim restitution orders arising from violations of this chapter.
Transfers pursuant to paragraph (1) shall have priority over any other claims to the assets or their proceeds.
Transfers pursuant to paragraph (1) shall not reduce or otherwise mitigate the obligation of a person convicted of a violation of this chapter to satisfy the full amount of a restitution order through the use of non-forfeited assets or to reimburse the Attorney General for the value of assets or proceeds transferred under this subsection through the use of nonforfeited assets.
Any violation of this chapter shall be considered an organized criminal activity or other serious offense for the purposes of application of chapter 224 (relating to witness protection).
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
2015—Subsec. (d)(1). Pub. L. 114–22, § 105(a)(1)(A), substituted “that was involved in, used, or” for “that was used or” and inserted “, and any property traceable to such property” after “such violation”.
Subsec. (d)(2). Pub. L. 114–22, § 105(a)(1)(B), inserted “, or any property traceable to such property” after “such violation”.
Subsec. (e)(1)(A). Pub. L. 114–22, § 105(a)(2), substituted “involved in, used, or” for “used or” and inserted “, and any property traceable to such property” after “any violation of this chapter”.
Subsecs. (f), (g). Pub. L. 114–22, § 105(a)(3), (4), added subsec. (f) and redesignated former subsec. (f) as (g).
2008—Subsecs. (b) to (f). Pub. L. 110–457 added subsecs. (b) and (c) and redesignated former subsecs. (b) to (d) as (d) to (f), respectively.