Tessa M. Gorman, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington
U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman announced that the Western District of Washington collected over $1.5 billion in criminal and civil actions during Fiscal Year 2024. The majority of this amount, approximately $1.51 billion, was obtained through criminal actions, while civil actions accounted for around $8.86 million.
The significant sum included a notable contribution from cryptocurrency exchange Binance, which agreed to a $1.5 billion payment as part of its guilty plea for failing to register as a money transmitting business and violating the Bank Secrecy Act and U.S. sanctions laws. "Our office worked closely with Department of Justice components on the criminal case against Binance," stated U.S. Attorney Gorman, highlighting the record-setting nature of this collection in the district.
In addition to these high-profile cases, the office independently collected $3.8 million in criminal restitution payments and an additional $8.8 million in civil collections throughout the year. These collections involved various cases, including tax fraud settlements by local business owners who had underreported income or committed other tax-related offenses.
A specific case involved Dr. Frank Li's Spokane medical office building sale, resulting in a $217,000 collection applied towards his health care fraud settlement totaling $2.85 million.
Another significant recovery came from Yakima Products, Inc., which contributed $1.23 million toward satisfying its $3 million settlement with the United States for not paying duties on imported aluminum components from China.
Furthermore, asset forfeiture actions yielded nearly $2.87 million during FY 2024 for the Western District of Washington, with funds being used to compensate crime victims and support law enforcement efforts.
The U.S. Attorneys' Offices play a crucial role in enforcing financial obligations related to civil and criminal debts owed to both federal crime victims and government entities across various cases each fiscal year.
