Las Vegas, Nev. - Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada
announced today that his office collected $6,625,390 during 2001 as a result of vigorous enforcement of civil and criminal debts owed to the United States and third parties. This amount far exceeds the $5,540,900 in operational expenses incurred by the office for Fiscal Year 2001. The funds were collected by the Office's Financial Litigation Unit (FLU), which is responsible for collecting monies owed to the United States by individuals and/or businesses located within the District of Nevada. The FLU is responsible for collecting money in criminal cases resulting from the imposition of fines, restitution orders, and mandatory special assessments, and from criminal appearance bonds when a defendant fails to appear in court or otherwise violates the conditions of bail. The FLU is also responsible for collecting monies in civil cases when the U.S. Attorney's Office collects judgments rendered in favor of the United States. These civil judgments often involve civil fines and penalties, defaulted federally-insured student loans, and recoveries for overpayments made under various federal programs administered by such agencies as the Veterans Administration and the Social Security Administration. While portions of federally forfeited funds are distributed to state and local law enforcement agencies for their use in future law enforcement efforts, many of the monies collected by FLU go to crime victims and to reimburse agencies for some of their enforcement expenses, and to ensure the availability of funds for future lending programs. United States Attorney, Daniel Bogden states that, "While the payments in restitution go directly to the victims of crime, the criminal fines and special assessments recovered are deposited in the Crime Victims Fund to assist crime victims in our community via special programs under the Victims of Crime Act of 1984." Mr. Bogden notes that the above-mentioned figures also represent the closure of approximately one thousand individual cases and he praises the efforts of his office's Financial Litigation Unit, noting that a team effort of the office staff contributed to this achievement. In closing, he states that his office plans to continue its vigorous enforcement to collect all debts with all enforcement tools available through the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act.

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