U.S. Attorney’s Office Based in Los Angeles Collected Nearly $72 Million in Civil and Criminal Actions for Taxpayers in Fiscal Year 2016

            LOS ANGELES – United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker announced today that her office collected $71,732,281 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2016. Of this amount, just over $27 million was collected in criminal actions, and $44.6 million was collected in civil actions.

            The United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $7.8 million in joint cases, mostly civil matters.

             Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s office, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $29.9 million in asset forfeiture actions in the fiscal year that ended on September 30. 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.

            “Every year, my office helps collect millions of dollars that goes to help victims of crime and to the United States Treasury to fund government programs,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “We are committed to recovering every dollar from defendants involved in criminal activity, as well as working on behalf of the victims of crime.”

            The United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California is based in Los Angeles and has branch offices in Santa Ana and Riverside. Currently, approximately 270 Assistant United States Attorneys serve nearly 20 million residents of the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.

            Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch has announced that the Justice Department collected more than $15.3 billion in civil and criminal actions in fiscal year 2016 – a figure that represents more than five times the approximately $3 billion appropriated budget for the 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices and the main litigating divisions of the Justice Department.

            The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with the Justice Department’s litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the U.S., as well as criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. Federal 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.

            Assistant United States Attorney Indira Cameron-Banks is the Chief of the Financial Litigation Section in the Civil Division. In that position, she is responsible for coordinating efforts to collect criminal and civil debts owed to victims of federal crimes and the United States, including restitution, fines, civil settlements, penalties and defaulted federal loans. These efforts include locating debtors’ assets and initiating enforcement actions to secure collection on the outstanding debts.