A court can order a defendant to make restitution (repayment) to victims of certain
crimes under 18 USC 3663 or 18 USC 3663A. To make sure the defendant repays the victim,
the court can order garnishment of the defendant’s title II benefits. While section
207 of the Social Security Act generally prohibits garnishment of benefits, 18 USC
3613 makes an exception for these special kinds of garnishment orders.
NOTE: For SSA fraud restitution, see GN 02201.050 and GN 02201.055.