Nevada U.S. Attorney's Office Collects Nearly $7.5 Million In Civil And Criminal Actions In Fiscal Year 2023

LAS VEGAS – United States Attorney Jason M. Frierson announced today that the District of Nevada collected $7,488,459.50 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2023. Of this amount, $6,794,786.25 was collected in criminal actions and $693,673.25 was collected in civil actions. 

Additionally, the District of Nevada worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $196,131.99 in cases pursued jointly by these offices. Of this amount, $56,131.99 was collected in criminal actions and $140,000 was collected in civil actions.

“This significant collection amount is a result of the diligent work by Assistant United States Attorneys and personnel in our Financial Litigation Program and Asset Forfeiture Unit,” said United States Attorney Frierson. “Throughout Fiscal Year 2023, we worked with partners to recover full amounts due to the United States and victims of crimes. These recovered funds will be used for direct victim compensation, victim assistance and state victim compensation grants. I thank our Civil Division team for their dedication and hard work in enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed.”

Highlights of the District of Nevada’s Fiscal Year 2023 collection efforts include:

• United States v. Michael Jones – Working jointly, several Assistant U.S. Attorneys of the U.S. Attorney’s Office secured the partial pre-payment of restitution from Michael Jones in the amount of $3,000,000. This combined effort ensured that payments would be made to the victims of Jones’ white collar fraud scheme which promised to secure small business grants from the government or other charitable organizations.

• United States v. Lance Kellow – Our office collected $273,375.40 from Lance Kellow as a result of targeted collection litigation. Kellow was convicted by a jury of mail, wire and bank fraud, and was ordered to pay over $800,000 to three financial institutions. The United States has collected and paid over $310,000 to the victims of Kellow’s crimes.

• United States v. Melissa Landgraf – Following the Landgraf’s conviction for wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office was advised that Landgraf and her husband were in the process of selling their home in a non-public sale. After advising the escrow company of the restitution lien in favor of Landgraf’s victims, the U.S. Attorney’s Office received the net proceeds of sale in the amount of $134,385.84 and was able to distribute it to Landgraf’s embezzlement victim, who was her prior employer.

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 working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $2,313,323 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2023. 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.

###