US attorney’s office collected $104.5M in criminal, civil actions
SACRAMENTO >> In 2019, the U.S. Attorney’s Office collected $104,469,755 in criminal and civil actions during the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced Thursday.
Of this amount, $78,774,806 was in civil actions and $25,694,949 was in criminal actions.
Working with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice, the office also collected an additional $1,947,052 in cases. From this amount, $1,928,713 was collected in civil actions and $18,339 was collected in criminal actions.
Partnering with other offices, it collected $23,712,892 in asset forfeiture actions. These figures represent funds actually received during the year, not judgments or settlements that have not yet been paid.
“Financial recoveries are a critical part of our mission to protect the public treasury and hold those who violate the law accountable for the injury they cause,” said Scott in the same press release. “Each year, our recoveries for victims and taxpayers dwarf the total cost of operating our office. We will continue to aggressively pursue compensation from those who commit crimes and other wrongs in our district, to take the profit out of crime and to ensure that wrongdoers— not the public—bear the costs of unlawful conduct.
I am enormously proud of these recoveries and other great accomplishments this year by all the dedicated public servants who work in this office.”
Major recoveries during this period include: $50.5 million from Health Net Federal Services for false claims submitted to the Department of Veterans Affairs under a contract to provide veterans with health care, $13.4 million in fraud proceeds forfeited from NBA executive Jeff David and restored to the Sacramento Kings, $9 million from Kernen Construction Co. and Bundy & Sons Logging for damages caused by a fire that burned more than 1,600 acres of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, and $10 million from BMO Harris Bank N.A. to resolve allegations that the bank violated the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act by engaging in a fraud.
U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Justice Department’s litigating divisions enforce and collect debts owed to the United States and to victims of federal crimes, Scott added. Federal law requires defendants convicted of certain crimes to pay restitution to the victims for physical injury or financial loss.
Criminal fines and felony assessments are distributed by the Department of Justice Crime Victims’ Fund to state victim-compensation and victim-assistance programs. Assets recovered through forfeitures are used to restore lost funds to crime victims, to reimburse forfeiture-related investigative expenses, and for other law-enforcement purposes authorized by Congress, he said.
Most civil recoveries were from enforcement actions seeking compensation and penalties for frauds on federal programs or federally insured financial institutions, negligent destruction of National Forest land by fire, and violations of federal health, safety, civil rights, or environmental laws. Recoveries in civil enforcement actions are used primarily to return taxpayer funds to defrauded programs and for restoration of damaged public resources.