Lawyers who have long pursued corruption cases said Thursday that the federal government may be able to reclaim corruptly obtained funds, which they argued "may be the most viable approach for effective accountability" for powerful insiders, with recoveries potentially amounting to billions of dollars.

Noah Bookbinder, who led the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington from 2015 to 2026, and Justin Florence, a co-founder and senior adviser at Protect Democracy, made the case in an essay for Just Security, arguing that prosecutions alone cannot hold the powerful accountable.

The authors pointed to a series of legal obstacles. The Supreme Court has overturned corruption convictions over the years, including those of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Enron executives, they noted. The court's decision in Trump v. United States, which extended broad immunity to the president, along with likely widespread blanket pardons, could make prosecutions even more difficult going forward, they wrote.

Their proposed remedy is disgorgement, a civil process that would allow the government to sue to recover money and other assets gained through corruption. If it were shown, for example, that a senior official had accepted money — "or an airplane" — in exchange for favorable treatment, the government would likely be able to bring a lawsuit to reclaim it, the authors wrote. Unlike in criminal court, the government would need to establish its case only by a preponderance of the evidence.

The lawyers cited a Supreme Court ruling this year in which the justices upheld the Securities and Exchange Commission's authority to recover funds acquired through fraud, as well as asset recovery efforts in Peru and Hungary.

The authors linked the proposal to recent reporting on President Trump's finances. The New York Times reported that Trump had earned more than $2 billion in his first year back in office, and Trump Media, the company behind Truth Social, has started charging Wall Street firms as much as $100,000 a month for early access to Trump's posts.

Recovering such funds, the authors wrote, would strike a blow against those who have gotten rich through corruption, hitting them "in the currency they care about most." It could also benefit struggling Americans, to whom the recovered money could be returned.

Asset recovery, the lawyers argued, is less likely to trigger the recriminations that have followed prosecutions, because it does not involve depriving the target of liberty.

They warned, however, that the government should pursue such cases only when supported by a strong body of evidence and presented in the open, because weak cases could themselves be viewed as an abuse of power.

Congressional investigations beginning in January could develop evidence and set the stage, but the Justice Department is unlikely to pursue asset recovery until 2029, the lawyers wrote. Some state attorneys general and private litigants, however, may be able to move sooner — and could begin examining the option now, the authors said.