MIAMI, FL - U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan announced today that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida collected $60,236,230.99 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2019. Of this amount, $56,913,999.14 was collected in criminal actions and $3,322,231.85 was collected in civil actions.
Additionally, the Southern District of Florida worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $110,962,642.62 in cases pursued jointly by these offices. Of this amount, $17,511.44 was collected in criminal actions and $110,945,131.18 was collected in civil actions.
“The millions of dollars collected in civil, criminal and forfeiture actions by the U.S. Attorney’s Office is exponentially more than the Southern District of Florida’s operating budget," stated U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan. “We work tirelessly to ensure that criminals do not profit from their illicit acts, crime victims receive restitution and our tax dollars fund federal programs and initiatives, not criminal enterprises."
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.
Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Southern District of Florida, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $106,739,543 in asset forfeiture actions in Fiscal Year 2019. 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
