United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE COLLECTS MORE THAN $28 MILLION
IN JUDGMENTS, FINES & RESTITUTION IN FY 2006

Monies To Be Distributed To Victims & Government Agencies-

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas collected approximately $28,245,000 in civil judgments and settlements and criminal monetary penalties in Fiscal Year 2006, approximately one and one-quarter times its operational budget for the year, announced Richard B. Roper, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

The total represents approximately $20,096,000.00 in civil judgments and settlements, and approximately $8,149,000.00 in criminal monetary penalties, consisting of fines, restitution and assessments. These collections were processed by the District’s Financial Litigation Unit or FLU, which consists of two attorneys, two paralegals, four collections agents and one contract employee. This Unit is responsible for the collection of the combined litigation efforts of attorneys and staff in the Civil and Criminal Divisions throughout the District.

The FLU initiated 79 Writs of Garnishment/Execution seizing more than $3 million in cash and property including antiques, paintings, automobiles, and one of the largest collections of Republic of Texas currency in existence. The cash seized represents defendants’ wages, retirement funds, stock portfolios, and bank accounts. These Writs were initiated to enforce court orders involving monetary debts owed the United States and victims of crime where defendants refused to cooperate with the FLU.

The District’s FLU currently manages a debt portfolio of $757,000,000 consisting of civil and criminal debt. The Unit’s efficiency is measured against the costs to collect where for every dollar the FLU spends to collect funds, it collected eighteen.

 The $20 million collected in civil judgments and settlements was affirmative civil enforcement (“ACE”) cases, such as health care fraud against such programs as Medicare and Medicaid and procurement fraud relating to government contracts; cases involving physicians who have breached their contractual commitments to the government in regard to medical school scholarships; cases involving defaulted, federally insured student loans; bankruptcy cases resulting in satisfaction of debts owed to the government; civil penalty actions, and others. Civil collections by the United States Attorney’s Office are distributed to government agencies which have sustained losses through default, fraud or overpayment; to agencies which have assessed civil money penalties against violators of agency regulations; and otherwise to the general treasury.

Among the various types of criminal monetary penalties (fines, restitution and assessments), the collection of restitution for private and federal victims takes the highest priority. Restitution is distributed directly to the victims by the United States District Clerk’s Office. The remainder is collected in the form of criminal fines and assessments, which are deposited in the U.S. Crime Victims Fund and distributed annually to State programs that compensate crime victims and their families. Monies are allocated among various government agencies and to an Emergency Reserve to assist victims of terrorism.

Because of the collection efforts by United States Attorney’s Offices throughout the country, millions of crime victims have received compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and funeral expenses. Over 2,000 programs that provide direct assistance to crime victims and their families are supported by these collections, including rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, child abuse treatment programs, and other such services. To learn more about the Crime Victims Fund, visit www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/factshts/vocacvf/welcome.html, or contact the Department of Justice Office of Victims of Crime Toll-Free at 1-800-851-3420.

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