Acting U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus announced that the Middle District of Pennsylvania collected $17,444,425 in criminal and civil actions during Fiscal Year 2024. Of this total, $3,588,583 was collected from criminal actions and $13,855,841 from civil actions.
The district also collaborated with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to gather an additional $5,108,801 in cases pursued jointly. This included $16,233 from criminal actions and $5,092,567 from civil actions.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to working for victims of crime and do what we can to make them whole,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus. “We collect restitution from convicted defendants on behalf of crime victims... I am proud to say that we have collected millions of dollars over the last year for the taxpayers and for crime victims in our district.”
U.S. Attorneys’ Offices are tasked with enforcing and collecting debts owed to the United States as well as criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. The law mandates that defendants pay restitution to victims who have suffered physical injury or financial loss due to certain federal crimes.
For instance:
Penn State Health disclosed that between December 1, 2015 and November 30, 2022, it submitted unsupported claims for Annual Wellness Visits reimbursable through Medicare. A settlement was reached in February 2024 where Penn State Health agreed to pay $11,712,336.
Jimmy Tran operated Asia Market in Harrisburg, PA where he traded SNAP benefits for cash between January 2017 and August 2020 amounting to illegal exchanges worth $1,843,534; a payment of $299,174.60 was due for forfeiture/restoration.
Additionally, asset forfeiture actions led by the U.S. Attorney’s office resulted in collections totaling $1,311,135 during FY 2024 which were deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund aimed at restoring funds to crime victims among other purposes.
