Eastern District of New York U.S. Attorney's Office Joins in Collections of Nearly $1.8 Billion in Criminal and Civil Actions in Fiscal Year 2023

United States Attorney Breon Peace announced today that the Eastern District of New York collected a total of $1,787,750,466.06 in criminal and civil actions filed in the Eastern District of New York and in cases in which the Office worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice in Fiscal Year 2023.  Of this amount, $273,839,971.81 was collected in criminal actions and $1,513,910,494.25 was collected in civil actions.

“I take great pride in the Eastern District’s substantial recoveries in Fiscal Year 2023, which is the result of our team’s strong commitment to justice and holding wrongdoers accountable for their crimes and misconduct,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “Providing restitution to victims of crime is also an important step in remedying the harm they have suffered and reaching some closure.”            

The U.S. Attorney’s Offices, along with the department’s litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the United States 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 collected to federal and state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.

FY 2023 Collections Highlight

In August 2023, UBS AG and several of its U.S.-based affiliates agreed to pay $1.435 billion in penalties to settle a civil action filed in November 2018 that alleged misconduct related to UBS’ underwriting and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) issued in 2006 and 2007.  UBS paid the United States $1,435,000,000 in civil penalties in exchange for dismissal of the complaint filed in the action.  The settlement resolved the last case brought by a Department of Justice Working Group dedicated to investigating the conduct of banks and other entities for their roles in creating and issuing RMBS leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. 
 

FY 2023 Forfeiture

Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected over $722,000,000 in asset forfeiture actions last year.  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.