If you look at the wikipedia article you'll notice a graph about the equitable sharing agreement. This is an agreement that the federal government has with stat

If you look at the wikipedia article you'll notice a graph about the equitable sharing agreement. This is an agreement that the federal government has with state and local police where anything seized is shared with the federal government. Madoff's seizer wouldn't be included in that number I wouldn't think, but if it was, 2010 was only slightly higher than 2007, 2008 and 2009. So the 2010 thing is just a coincidence and either isn't included in the equitable sharing agreement, or if it is, it shows the Madoff seizure is just a drop in the bucket. Either way, it's pretty bad. The easy fix for civil forfeiture is assign the burden of proof to the state, not the citizen. Some states have done this very thing.