U.S. Attorney’s Office Collects $4,551,419.18 from in Civil and Criminal Actions in Fiscal Year 2024

BILLINGS - U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich announced today that the District of Montana collected $4,551,419.18 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2024. Of this amount, $3,165,015.74 was collected in criminal actions and $1,386,403.44 was collected in civil actions.

Additionally, the District of Montana worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $6,803,045.08 in cases pursued jointly by these offices. Of this amount, $251,225 was collected in criminal actions and $6,551,820.08 was collected in civil actions. 

“These collections come from both criminals who are ordered to pay restitution to victims and fines and from those who owe debts or civil penalties to the American taxpayer. As last year’s numbers reflect, our team of prosecutors, investigators, and staff have great success, and I thank them for their tireless and dedicated service in collecting more than $4.5 million on behalf of crime victims and the American people,” U.S. Attorney Laslovich said.

Funds collected for criminal judgments and paid to victims include:

• $721,739.82 from John Kevin Moore, who was convicted in August 2018 by a federal jury of 21 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, and false statements.  Moore was also sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
• $345,932.98 from Joseph Glen Dickey, including the full payment of his $270,807.98 restitution and $75,000 fine. Mr. Dickey was convicted of tax crimes for failing to pay his taxes and was also sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
• $250,000 from Larry Price, Jr., a former official of Signal Peak energy, LLC, who was convicted of fraud and other crimes.
• $100,000 from U.S. Minerals, Inc., which was convicted of negligent endangerment for exposing workers to arsenic at its former Anaconda plant.

Funds collected for civil judgments and paid to victims include:

• $180,000 from Dr. David Bellamah, who agreed to pay more than $3.7 million to settle alleged False Claims Act violations.
• $1,156,929.30 from Kalispell Regional Healthcare, which was the final payment from a 2018 settlement where it agreed to pay more than $1 million for alleged False Claims Act violations.
• $5,394,890.78 from Atlantic Richfield in payment of its multimillion-dollar settlement for cleaning up the Anaconda Smelter Superfund Site.

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 the District of Montana, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $881,629 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2024. 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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