BIRMINGHAM -- U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance announced today that the Northern District of Alabama office collected $2.4 million in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2015. Of this amount, $1.9 million was collected in criminal actions and $483,146 in civil actions.
Additionally, the north Alabama office worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $36.7 million in cases pursued jointly with these offices. Those joint cases included a $13 million settlement with the for-profit education company, Education Affiliates, on allegations of fraud against the U.S. Department of Education.
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced today that the Justice Department collected $23.1 billion in civil and criminal actions in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2015. That amount represents more than seven and a half times the approximately $2.93 billion that the Justice Department appropriated for the 93 U.S. Attorneys’ offices and the main litigating divisions for the 2015 fiscal year.
“The Department of Justice is committed to upholding the rule of law, safeguarding taxpayer resources and protecting the American people from exploitation and abuse," said Attorney General Lynch. “The collections we are announcing today demonstrate not only the strength of that commitment, but also the significant return on public investment that our actions deliver. I want to thank the prosecutors and trial attorneys who made this achievement possible, and to reiterate our dedication to this ongoing work."
"My office is committed to the primary goal of seeking justice and, to that end, we work every day to put criminals behind bars and ensure that money taken through wrongful action is returned to the federal government and the American taxpayer," Vance said. “The $2.4 million our office recovered independently this past year, plus the $36.7 million we recovered working collaboratively with other offices, is more than three times the budget of this office," she said.
Among the civil collections made independently by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for north Alabama was $123,036 from Maurice Gant and the Center for Hearing in Huntsville, and $300,000 from Generics Bidco, a Huntsville pharmaceutical distribution facility. The Center for Hearing paid to settle allegations that it made a series of false claims to the government arising from the provision of audiology services to TVA employees and retirees. Generics Bidco paid penalties to settle allegations that it failed to maintain complete and accurate records and inventories of controlled substances.
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 to 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, Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Service, Small Business Administration and Department of Education.
Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Northern District of Alabama, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $1.4 million in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2015. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
