U.S. Attorney's Office Collects Over 11M in Criminal and Civil Actions For Fiscal Year 2019

Knoxville, Tenn - U.S. Attorney J. Douglas Overbey announced today that the Eastern District of Tennessee collected $11,138,905.90 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2019.  Of this amount, $9,007,943.97 was collected in criminal actions and $2,130,961.93 was collected in civil actions.

Additionally, the Eastern District of Tennessee collaborated with other U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $35,218,323.69 in cases pursued jointly by these offices.  Of this amount, $59,667.48 was collected in criminal actions and $35,158,656.21 was collected in civil actions.

“Criminal and civil monetary penalties provide additional deterrence to those who seek to violate federal laws.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office continues to strive towards insuring that ill-gotten gains are collected and returned to the federal coffers for reimbursement for victims of crimes.  Additionally, our stringent enforcement of civil and criminal monetary penalties provide an additional level of punishment for the offenders,” added U.S. Attorney J. Douglas Overbey.

The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with the Department of Justice 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.  Restitution is paid to the victim, and 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.

Additionally, the U.S. Attorneys’ office of the Eastern District of Tennessee, working with partner agencies and divisions from the FBI, IRS and other law enforcement agencies, collected $3,527,831 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2019.  Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for various law enforcement uses.

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