U.S. Attorney’s Office Collects $16.9 million in Civil and Criminal Actions in Fiscal Year 2021

BILLINGS— U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson announced today that the District of Montana collected $16,904,987 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2021. Of this amount, $4,885,558 was collected in criminal actions and $12,019,429 was collected in civil cases worked by the district or jointly with components of the Department of Justice.

“This money comes from seizing proceeds from criminal activity and from civil penalties and debt collections. These funds help crime victims and benefit the U.S. Treasury, which are priorities of this office. I want to thank our financial litigation unit, the civil and criminal divisions, and all of our employees for their hard work on behalf of victims and government fraud,” U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson said.

Some of the funds collected in civil actions include a 2020 settlement with Atlantic Richfield for cleanup of mining contamination in the Butte area and a 2018 settlement with Kalispell Regional Healthcare System for alleged violations of the False Claims Act by paying physicians more than the fair market value.

Funds collected in criminal judgments include a case involving Larry Price Jr., a former Signal Peak Mine official convicted of fraud and other crimes in a corruption investigation.

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 collected to federal and state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.

Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Montana, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $553,764 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2021. 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.

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