Eastern District Of North Carolina U.S. Attorney’s Office Collects 12,075,779.92 In Civil And Criminal Actions For U.S. Taxpayers In Fiscal Year 2014

RALEIGH – United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced today that the Eastern District of North Carolina collected $12,075,779.92 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2014.  Of this amount, $7,766,083.07 was collected in criminal actions and $4,309,696.85 was collected in civil actions.

Additionally, the Eastern District worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $6,085,249.57 in cases pursued jointly with these offices.  Of this amount, $4,942.19 was collected in criminal actions and $6,080,307.38 was collected in civil actions.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced on November 19, 2014 that the Justice Department collected $24.7 billion in 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 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 Eric Holder.  “Their diligent efforts are enabling us to achieve justice and recoup losses in virtually every sector of the U.S. economy.  And as a result, I can report today that – during Fiscal Year 2014 – the Justice Department collected a total of $24.7 billion in civil and criminal actions.”

“The United States Attorney’s Office has made the efficient and effective collection of restitution on behalf of victims of crime a top priority”, stated Mr. Walker. “Collection of restitution on behalf of the United States is essential during the current budgetary restraints.”

During the past fiscal year the Eastern District of North Carolina has returned millions of dollars to victims of crime.  In one such case, due to fraudulent billing practices of the defendant in USA v. Johnson-Hunter, a total restitution of $452,039.00 was returned to Medicare and Medicaid.  Recovering monies stolen from programs such as Medicare and Medicaid helps ensure that the programs are available when needed.  The office was also successful in recovering $217,823.72 in back child support payments from an NBA pension account in the USA v. Williams case.

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 Eastern District of North Carolina, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $2,380,412 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.