Northern District Of California Collects Over $113 Million In Civil And Criminal Actions For U.S. Taxpayers In Fiscal Year 2018

SAN FRANCISCO –U.S. Attorney David L. Anderson announced today that the Northern District of California collected $113,842,340.66 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2018.  Of this amount, $103,764,722.65 was collected in criminal actions and $2,354,162.58 was collected in civil actions.  

Additionally, the Northern District of California worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $2,102,220,943.25 in cases pursued jointly. Of this amount, $2,354,162.58 was collected in criminal actions and $2,099,866,780.67 was collected in civil actions.

Overall, the Justice Department collected nearly $15 billion in civil and criminal actions in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2018.  The $14,839,821,650 in collections in FY 2018 represents nearly seven times the appropriated $2.13 billion ($2,136,750,000) budget for the 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices.

“The extraordinary work of the people employed in this office can never be quantified in dollars alone,” said U.S. Attorney Anderson. “Still, it is gratifying to know that during this past fiscal year, the employees of this office had a direct hand in retrieving funds in excess of the budget of the 94 United States Attorneys’ Offices combined.  I am proud of the work of this office and we will continue to pursue vigorously all financial claims that arise from crime and other violations of federal law.”  

“The men and women of the U.S. Attorneys’ offices across the country work diligently, day in and day out, to see that the citizens of our nation receive justice.  The money that we are able to recover for victims and this country as a whole is a direct result of their hard work,” Director James A. Crowell, IV, Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys.

The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with the department’s litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the U.S. and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims.  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 to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the department’s Crime Victims Fund, which distributes the funds collected to federal and state victim compensation and victim assistance programs. 

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, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Internal Revenue Service, the Small Business Administration and the Department of Education.