U.S. Attorney’s Office Collected Over $7 Million in Civil and Criminal Actions in Fiscal Year 2022

HAMMOND- U.S. Attorney Clifford D. Johnson announced today that the Northern District of Indiana collected $7,065,356.11 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2022 (October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022). Of this amount, $6,571,549.94 was collected in criminal actions and $493,806.17 was collected in civil actions. 

Additionally, the Northern District of Indiana worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $1,877,445.57 in civil actions pursued jointly by these offices.         

United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson said, “Most people, when thinking about the work of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, only focus on the federal criminal prosecutions that this office undertakes. While prosecuting criminal conduct is important, that action by itself does not completely advance public safety.  A successful criminal prosecution also deprives criminals of any ill-gotten financial gains and uses those funds to compensate crime victims.  I am very proud that my Office, last fiscal year, recovered over 6.5 million dollars from the criminals we prosecuted.  Additionally, my Office, through its collections in civil cases, is returning nearly $500,000.00 to the federal treasury.”

In May, the Northern District of Indiana recovered $1,513,730 from Cleveland Cliffs for civil penalties in a Clean Water Act case as part of a settlement for a discharge during 2019 into the Burns Waterway leading into Lake Michigan that exceeded ammonia and cyanide limits and resulted in 3,000 dead fish, beach closures, and danger of tainted drinking water.

In July, the Northern District of Indiana recovered $385,715 from BP Products for stipulated penalties for Consent Decree violations in a Clean Air Act case.

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 Northern District of Indiana, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $1,357,234 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2022. 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.