Springfield, Ill. – The U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois, James A. Lewis, today announced that in federal fiscal year 2010, the Office collected $7.5 million – $5,765,596 in criminal actions and $1,743,879 in civil actions. These collections contributed to a nationwide all-time high by the Department of Justice: $6.68 billion during the government=s fiscal year, the most successful collection year by U.S. Attorneys= offices.
AThe U.S. Attorney=s Office is dedicated to protecting the public and recovering funds for the federal treasury and for victims of federal crime,” said U.S. Attorney Jim Lewis. “During this time of economic recovery, these collections are more important than ever.”

U.S. Attorneys= offices are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the United States and criminal debts owed to victims of federal crime. Nationwide, the amount collected in criminal actions totaled $2.84 billion in restitution, criminal fines, and felony assessments. This includes restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss, as well as criminal fines and felony assessments that are distributed to state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.

As a result of civil actions, $3.84 billion was collected. 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. In addition, civil debts were collected on behalf of several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Service, and Small Business Administration.

The totals for FY 2010 represent a nearly 30% increase in criminal collections and a 57% increase in civil collections over FY 2009 as a result of various large criminal restitution cases as well as large health care fraud cases. In FY 2009, U.S. Attorneys= offices contributed to the collection of more than $4.6 billion – $2.23 billion in criminal actions and $2.44 billion in civil actions.

For further information, the U.S. Attorneys’ Annual Statistical Reports through FY 2009 are available on the Internet at http://www.justice.gov/usao/reading_room/foiamanuals.html.