LAS VEGAS, Nev. - U.S. Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich announced today that the District of Nevada collected $14,158,816.85 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2019. Of this amount, $8,506,018.90 was collected in criminal actions and $5,652,797.95 was collected in civil actions. These amounts are approximately double the criminal and civil amounts that the District of Nevada collected in Fiscal Year 2018.
Additionally, the District of Nevada worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $11,775,021.59 in cases pursued jointly by these offices. Of this amount, $1,200 was collected in criminal actions and $11,773,821.59 was collected in civil actions.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada is grateful for the extraordinary performance of the dedicated public servants in our Civil Division, particularly the Financial Litigation Unit and the Asset Forfeiture Unit," said U.S. Attorney Trutanich. “Due to their efforts, our office is able to contribute significant funds for victim compensation, victim assistance, and law enforcement purposes."
For example, in May, the District of Nevada recovered $1.76 million prior to sentencing as part of a joint criminal and civil case against pharmacy owner Nelson Mukuna. The matter arose out of allegations that Mukuna paid kickbacks to nurse practitioners, inducing them to prescribe medically unnecessary products to be filled at Mukuna’s pharmacy. In August, the District of Nevada also recovered $2.5 million as part of the settlement in the civil case of United States ex rel. Arik v. Nevada Heart & Vascular, Inc. That case was brought by a whistleblower under the False Claims Act and involved allegations that Nevada Heart & Vascular Center received kickbacks to order medically unnecessary genetics tests.
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.
Further, the U.S. Attorney’s office in the District of Nevada, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $1,431,518 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 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
