U.S. Attorney's Office collected nearly $41 million in 2015

U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach announced that the Northern District of Ohio collected more than $40.7 million in Fiscal Year 2015 from criminal and civil actions.

Approximately $33.6 million was collected in criminal actions and about $7.1 million in civil actions. 

Additionally, the office took in $12.6 million in civil and criminal forfeitures.

The office’s total overall budget for this fiscal year was about $16 million.

“Once again our office brought in millions of dollars and doubled our annual budget,” Dettelbach said. “In addition to thwarting terrorism, protecting the environment, enforcing civil rights laws, rooting out corruption and getting guns off the streets, this office protects the fiscal interests of the taxpayers and the Treasury.”

“The Department of Justice is committed to upholding the rule of law, safeguarding taxpayer resources and protecting the American people from exploitation and abuse,” said Attorney General Lynch.  “The collections we are announcing demonstrate not only the strength of that commitment, but also the significant return on public investment that our actions deliver.  I want to thank the prosecutors and trial attorneys who made this achievement possible, and to reiterate our dedication to this ongoing work.”

The money is used to compensate crime victims, is distributed to state and local law enforcement partners who participate in investigations and is returned to the general treasury.

Among the largest collections this year:

United States v. Robinson Health System Inc.: The Ravenna-based nonprofit paid $10 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Statute by engaging in improper financial relationships with referring physicians.

The settlement involved Robinson’s financial relationships with a number of referring physicians that allegedly violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Statute, both of which restrict the financial relationships that hospitals may have with doctors who refer patients to them.  These relationships included management agreements that Robinson had with two physicians groups.  These physicians allegedly failed to provide sufficient bona fide management services to have justified the payments that they received.  Robinson disclosed these issues to the government. The company operated a number of health care facilities in Portage County, including Robinson Memorial Hospital. 

United States v. Thomas Shumay: Shumay paid $400,000 in restitution last year. He was previously found guilty of mail fraud and making false statements in relation to his work as president of All Tools. In that capacity, he was responsible for ensuring that landing gear parts produced and sold by All Tools for use on military aircraft were developed and tested in compliance with military contract specifications. 

United States v. Scott A. Fisher: Fischer, of Marion, Ohio, was previously found guilty of tax evasion for evading nearly $900,000 in federal income tax between 2006 and n2010. Fisher paid the unpaid taxes leading up to plea. He was sentenced to one year in prison and fined $250,000. That fine was paid last year.

The Justice Department collected approximately $23.1 billion in civil and criminal actions across the country in the 2015 fiscal year.  

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 financial, health, safety, civil rights and 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.

The total includes all monies collected as a result of Justice Department-led enforcement actions and negotiated civil settlements.  It includes more than $16.2 billion in payments made directly to the Justice Department and more than $6.8 billion in indirect payments made to other federal agencies, states and other designated recipients.

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.

A complete breakdown of collections in the Northern District of Ohio over past decade is as follows:

2014: $356.7 million

2013: $23.9 million

2012: $79.7 million

2011: $48.6 million

2010: $42 million

2009: $17.7 million

2008: $36.7 million

2007: $63.5 million

2006: $80 million

2005: $51.4 million

2004: $22.3 million