Maryland U. S. Attorney’s Office Collects Over $143 Million In Civil And Criminal Actions For U.S. Taxpayers In FY2013

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein announced that financial collections in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 in the District of Maryland reached $143,297,520.31. The U.S. Department of Justice keeps statistics on a fiscal year basis, closing the books each September 30.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that the Justice Department collected approximately $8.1 billion in civil and criminal actions in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2013,which represents nearly three times the appropriated $2.76 billion budget for the 94 U.S. Attorney’s offices and the main litigating divisions in that same period.

“The department’s enforcement actions help to not only ensure justice is served, but also deliver a valuable return to the American people,” said Attorney General Holder. “It is critical that Congress provide the resources necessary to match the department’s mounting caseload. As these figures show, supporting our federal prosecutors is a sound investment.”

“Thanks to the hard work and dedication of employees of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our partner agencies, funds recovered far exceed the cost of operating the office,” said Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “We will continue to hold accountable anyone who seeks to profit from illegal activities.”

According to statistics from the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland in FY 2013 collected $137,587,803.66 in criminal debts owed to the U.S. government and to federal crime victims, including restitution, criminal fines and felony assessments. The statistics also show that $5,709,716.65 was collected in civil actions handled exclusively by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, including judgments in civil cases.

Additionally, the District of Maryland worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $348,391,707.91 in cases pursued jointly with these offices, including cases resolved under the False Claims Act on behalf of victim agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the Environment Protection Agency. These cases include the successful resolutions of United States ex rel. Thakur v. Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited, United States ex rel. Heiden v. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., United States ex rel. Momeyer v. Hospice of Arizona, L.L.C., United States ex rel. Ryan v. Trans1, Inc. and an investigation of U.S. Renal Care. Of this amount, $6,200 was collected in criminal actions and $348,385,507.91 was collected in civil actions.

The $143 million collected by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland in FY 2013 represents approximately eight times the office’s appropriated $17.9 million budget in that same period.

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 United States 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 directly 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 statistics show that the $5,709,716.65 collected in civil actions in Maryland, include affirmative civil enforcement cases, in which the United States recovered government money lost to fraud or other misconduct or collected penalties imposed on individuals and/or corporations for violations of federal health, safety, civil rights or environmental laws, and debts collected on behalf of several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Service, and Small Business Administration.

In the criminal area, of the total $137,587,803.66 collected, $6,155,018.82 was for restitution for federal agencies and for victims other than the federal governments; and $131,432,784.84 was for criminal fines and other criminal collections.

In addition, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $26,853,350 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2012. 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.

For more information, the Department’s Annual Statistical Reports on prior fiscal years can be found on the internet at: http://www.justice.gov/usao/reading_room/foiamanuals.html.