Wasn't there something the DOJ or E.O. that stated the government could take everything from a person or corporation if they were found to have participated in human trafficking?

Not really. Something else happened that people started pushing a bunch of myths about.

In 2012, Congress passed a law called the Magnitsky Act. It levied sanctions against people involved with the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian Tax Accountant who died in prison in Moscow.

In 2016 Congress passed a new law called Global Magnitsky Act. This went beyond Russia and levied sanctions at people involved in gross Human Rights abuses. The law said Congress would send a list of names to Treasury and State and they would vet the names and choose which names would be sanctioned. To enact this law would require the President to issue an executive order because the lawful authority enact treasuring sanctions exists in a few existing laws dating back to the 50's.

Obviously these laws predate Trump's presidency. But the enforcement of this law --coming up with the people to sanction and issuing the order-- happened in 2017. This right during the Qanon hubbub and fit perfectly with the fictions the Qanon crowd was pushing, that Trump was going to act like a dictator and was going after the assets of child trafficking, so a bunch of Myths got created.

Myths about the Dec 2017 Executive Order.

1. This executive order is focused on Human Trafficking. Actually it goes way beyond that, its focus is Serious Human Rights Abuse or Corruption. It could be used to go after human traffickers but it could be used for other crimes.
2. This was President Trump's initiative. Actually it's based on a law passed by Congress and the initial list of people selected for sanctions was proposed by Congress. The State Department and the Treasury Department the pick the nominees and send them to the president. The sanctions list is managed by the Treasury Department's OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSETS CONTROL
3. This can be used to take everything a person has away from them. Actually, it can be used to "freeze" your assets if those assets are kept in American banks. Also Banks that do business with American banks will not do business with you because then they could get cut off from the American banking system, which means you become a pariah to banks all over the world. So if they have their money outside the US and outside banks who do business with the US, nothing happens. The real "bite" of these sanctions is you are cut off from Global banking system and it becomes much harder to move your money around the world. It becomes much harder for you to travel. Imagine being a billionaire but not being able to use your credit card in Rome or get money from an ATM in Paris. Some of the money in the original Magnitsky case was laundered into NY real estate and the US Attorney in NY went after it. It can also use you to deny you a visa to the US.
4. This could be used to go after the "Swamp" or "The Cabal" or Eric Schmidt. Actually this only applies to foreign nationals outside the reach of US law. People committing crimes inside the US would be subject to the US justice system with the usual Constitutional protections
5. There are over 100,000 names already on this list. See here https://voat.co/v/GreatAwakening/2514858 or here https://voat.co/v/GreatAwakening/2420106. Actually this is the entire list of sanctions people or entities maintained the Treasury Department's OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSETS CONTROL. The names on this list go back decades. There are all sorts of ways you get on this list. Columbian drug dealers from the 1980's on are this list. Terrorist organizations like the Irish Republican Army are this list.
6. Here's a new myth about this "This is what the removal of the power structure of major corporations is about. The example of ZTE is a template of how the Qanon team intends to take over ALL these private and publicly held companies." Actually this is fantasy. This had nothing at all with ZTE. The ZTE case was about them breaking sanctions on Iran and the Commerce department cut them off from buying American technology. Trump overruled the Commerce Department's decision and kept ZTE alive.

Background Info From Human Rights Watch.

Sergei Magnitsky was a Russian accountant who, in 2009, was tortured, denied medical attention, and found dead in his Moscow jail cell. Russian authorities had targeted him for his role in exposing a giant tax fraud scheme allegedly involving high-level government officials.

In 2012, the US Congress passed a law in his name that imposed sanctions on a list of Russian officials believed to be responsible for serious human rights violations, freezing any US assets they hold and banning them from entry into the United States.

In an important step for global accountability, Congress built on the original Russia-focused Magnitsky law in 2016 and enacted the Global Magnitsky Act, which allows the executive branch to impose visa bans and targeted sanctions on individuals anywhere in the world responsible for committing human rights violations or acts of significant corruption. The act received widespread bipartisan support. Senator Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, introduced a version of the bill, and five Republican senators and five Democratic senators signed on as co-sponsors. President Barack Obama signed the law on December 23, 2016.

What does the Global Magnitsky Act do?

The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act authorizes the president to block or revoke the visas of certain “foreign persons” (both individuals and entities) or to impose property sanctions on them. People can be sanctioned (a) if they are responsible for or acted as an agent for someone responsible for “extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights,” or (b) if they are government officials or senior associates of government officials complicit in “acts of significant corruption.”

Why is the Global Magnitsky Act a useful tool?

The act promotes respect for human rights at all levels of government by enabling the US executive branch to apply targeted sanctions on any individual involved in a human rights violation, from senior officials to low-level officers and even nongovernment associates. These sanctions can take the form of asset freezes for funds held in US banks and bans on visas for coming to the US.

The Global Magnitsky Act functions as a deterrent, forcing foreign officials at all levels who would use unlawful violence or corruption to consider repercussions from the US government. The act also provides incentives to foreign governments to improve their own accountability mechanisms. By cooperating with the US on Global Magnitsky investigations, foreign leaders can show that they will not tolerate human rights abusers in their own countries.

How effective are sanctions from the Global Magnitsky Act?

Sanctions deny individuals entry into the US, allow the seizure of any of their property held in the country, and effectively prevent them from entering into transactions with large numbers of banks and companies. Both American firms and international firms with American subsidiaries run the risk of violating US sanctions if they do business with sanctioned people. The law’s impact is exemplified by the Russian official sanctioned by the Magnitsky Act who hired a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, to advocate against the act at the US Congress and help establish a non-profit organization opposing the act.