Financial Litigation Unit
The Financial Litigation Unit (FLU) oversees the collection of civil and criminal federal debts. The FLU is responsible for the enforcement of monetary impositions ordered as a result of criminal convictions in the United States District Court for the District of Idaho. The purpose of criminal monetary impositions, both fines and restitution, is to compensate victims of crime. Additionally, the FLU is responsible for obtaining and collecting civil judgments on defaulted federal debts, including but not limited to student loans owed to the U.S. Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services. Following is a description of the areas of responsibility of the Financial Litigation Unit:
- Pursuing the collection of fines, special assessments, restitution, costs, and penalties owed by criminal defendants (both corporate and individual);
- Pursuing civil judgments on defaulted government loans issued by the Department of Education, Small Business Administration, Veterans Administration, the Department of Agriculture, and other federal entities, and the collection of such judgments;
- Pursuing civil judgments for overpayments made by the United States under various government programs to individuals (such as Social Security, Veterans' benefits, Medicare, and Department of Defense stipends), and the collection of such judgments;
- Pursuing collection of monetary judgments in successful civil fraud prosecutions (such as health care fraud and procurement fraud);
- Pursuing the collection of environmental fines and penalties, emanating from criminal and civil litigation;
- Pursuing the collection of civil penalties, interest, surcharges and costs when appropriate.
The Financial litigation unit strives to collect debts efficiently and aggressively. Efforts include locating debtors and hidden assets in this country and abroad, setting repayment agreements, and initiating post judgment remedies such as wage garnishment. Collections for FLU through September 2011 were $11,779,744.20 in both civil and criminal debts.
Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a collaborative effort by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and communities to prevent and deter gun violence.
