District of Kansas U.S. Attorney Collects $6.1 Million in Civil and Criminal Actions

TOPEKA, KAN. - U.S. Attorney Tom Beall announced today that the District of Kansas collected more than $6.1 million in criminal cases and civil actions in federal fiscal year 2016. Of this amount, $3.7 million was collected in criminal actions and $2.4 million was collected in civil actions. 

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.