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Thom Mrozek (213) 894-6947 |
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Release No. 10-182
December 16, 2010
LOS ANGELES-BASED UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE COLLECTED OVER $200 MILLION DURING LAST FISCAL YEAR
LOS ANGELES – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California collected $200,339,706 as a result of criminal prosecutions, civil lawsuits and asset forfeiture actions during the 2010 fiscal year, according to Justice Department statistics, United States Attorney André Birotte Jr. announced today.
The money collected by the Los Angeles-based United States Attorney’s Office resulted from $23,669,532 collected in criminal actions, $153,737,577 collected in civil actions, and $27,202,755 coming from criminal and civil asset forfeiture actions.
The Justice Department said that financial collections by the entire Department in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2010 reached an all-time high due to the efforts of United States Attorney’s Offices across the nation. The 94 United States Attorney’s offices contributed to the collection of $6.68 billion during the government’s fiscal year, which ended on September 30. This amount is the most successful collection year ever by the United States Attorney’s offices.
“During the past five years, this office has collected more than $2.35 billion, and that money goes to the federal treasury and to victims of federal crimes,” said United States Attorney André Birotte Jr. “The vigorous collections efforts by the Assistant U.S. Attorneys in this office demonstrate our commitment to pursuing justice, being fiscally responsible and working on behalf of the victims of crime.”
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California is based in Los Angeles and has branch offices in Santa Ana and Riverside. Approximately 265 Assistant United States Attorneys serve well over 18 million residents of the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.
The United States Attorney’s Offices are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the United States and criminal restitution owed to federal crime victims. Statistics from the Department of Justice indicate that the total amount collected in criminal actions in FY2010 totaled $2.84 billion, which came from restitution, criminal fines and felony assessments. The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss. While restitution is paid directly to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the Department’s Crime Victims’ Fund, which distributes the funds to state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.
Additionally, the United States Attorney’s Offices contributed to the collection of $1.8 billion in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2010. Forfeited assets are deposited into either the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund or the Department of Treasury Forfeiture Fund and are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.
The statistics also indicate that $3.84 billion was collected by United States Attorney’s Offices in civil actions. The largest civil collections were from affirmative civil enforcement cases, in which the United States recovered government money lost to fraud or other misconduct or collected fines imposed on individuals and/or corporations for violations of federal health, safety, civil rights or environmental laws. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District handled a number of these matters in FY 2010, including obtaining $12.5 million from Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation in a False Claims Act case (see: http://www.justice.gov/usao/cac/pressroom/pr2010/099.html).
For further information, the United States Attorneys’ Annual Statistical Reports through FY 2009 can be found at http://www.justice.gov/usao/reading_room/foiamanuals.html.
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Release No. 10-182
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