Nevada U.S. Attorney's Office Collects $10.9 Million in 2014

   LAS VEGAS, Nev. – U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden announced today that the Nevada U.S. Attorney’s Office collected $10.9 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 related to criminal, civil and asset forfeiture actions.  Of this amount, approximately $4.6 million was collected in criminal actions, $1.4 million was collected in civil actions, and $5 million was collected in criminal and civil forfeitures.
           
Additionally, the District of Nevada worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $14 million in cases pursued jointly with these offices.  This additional shared amount was almost entirely collected in civil actions.  

“The collection of monetary penalties in federal litigation is a critical aspect of our work that frequently gets overlooked,” said U.S. Attorney Bogden.  “These collections are used to help crime victims and for a variety of other law enforcement purposes. Our FY 2014 collections far exceeded the total appropriated budget for our office for FY 2014.”  

An example of a recent case in which the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada collected a significant amount of money was a settlement of the Como Fire litigation.  That case involved a claim against Silver Reserve Corp. and Mining Contractor's Inc. for recoupment of fire suppression costs and rehabilitation of federal land.  The fire was caused by the negligent operation of an excavator that struck a power pole and ignited vegetation.  The contractor settled the claim and paid $250,000 to the United States.

Attorney General Eric Holder also announced today 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 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 this result 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.