Vermont U.S. Attorney’s Office Collects Over $5 Million In Civil And Criminal Actions For U.S. Taxpayers In Fiscal Year 2014

Acting U.S. Attorney Eugenia A.P. Cowles announced today that the District of Vermont collected $5,077,760.16 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2014.  Of this amount, $4,359,364.86 was collected in criminal actions and $718,395.30 was collected in civil actions

Additionally, the District of Vermont worked with other U.S. Attorneys’ offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $344,820.00 in cases pursued jointly with these offices.  Of this amount, $6,770.00 was collected in criminal actions and $338,050.00 was collected in civil actions.         

Attorney General Eric Holder announced in November that the Justice Department collected $24.7 billionin civil and criminal actions in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2014.  The more than $24 billion in collections in FY 2014 represents nearly eight and a half times the appropriated $2.91 billion budget for the 94 U.S. Attorney’s offices and the main litigating divisions in that same period.

“Every day, the Justice Department’s federal prosecutors and trial attorneys work hard to protect our citizens, to safeguard precious taxpayer resources, and to provide a valuable return on investment to the American people,” said Attorney General Holder.  “Their diligent efforts are enabling us to achieve justice and recoup losses in virtually every sector of the U.S. economy.  And it shows the fruits of the Justice Department’s tireless work in enforcing federal laws; in protecting the American people from violent crime, national security threats, discrimination, exploitation, and abuse; and in holding financial institutions accountable for their roles in causing the 2008 financial crisis.”

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 to state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.

The largest civil collections were from affirmative civil enforcement cases, in which the United States recovered government money lost to fraud or other misconduct or collected fines imposed on individuals and/or corporations for violations of federal health, safety, civil rights or environmental laws.  In addition, civil debts were collected on behalf of several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Service, Small Business Administration and Department of Education.

Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Vermont working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $1,020,540.00 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2014. 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.