U.S. Attorney’s Office Collects $16,113,273.52 In Civil And Criminal Actions In Fiscal Year 2019

SALT LAKE CITY -- U.S. Attorney John W. Huber announced Wednesday that $16,113,273.52 in criminal and civil actions was collected in Utah during fiscal year 2019, which ended Sept. 30, 2019.

Of this amount, $5,937,820.86 was collected in criminal cases and $10,175,452.66 through civil actions. 

Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Utah worked with other U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $2,020,570.97 in cases pursued jointly by these offices. Of this amount, $3,450 came from criminal cases and $2,017,120.97 through civil actions.              

“The money we have collected is used to provide restitution to victims of federal crimes and support important victim assistance programs,” Huber said today.  “These funds also come from divesting criminals of the proceeds of their illegal conduct.”

Collections this year included the Lyle Jeffs case, where $99,216.53 in forfeited assets were applied to Jeffs’ $1 million restitution judgment in March 2019 in favor of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Another defendant voluntarily paid $449,571.19 in February 2019 in full satisfaction of his restitution debt.                                       

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 of Justice’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 Utah, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $1,517,673 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2019.  Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice’s assets forfeiture fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.