Vermont U.S. Attorney’s Office collects over 160 million dollars in civil and criminal actions for U.S. taxpayers in Fiscal Year 2017

U.S. Attorney Christina E. Nolan announced today that the District of Vermont collaborated with other U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect $156,032,317.29 during Fiscal Year 2017. Of this amount, $22,154.00 was collected in criminal actions and $156,010,163.29 was collected in civil actions.

In addition, the District of Vermont, on its own, collected $4,646,932.14 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2017. Of this amount, $1,159,881.99 was collected in criminal actions and $3,487,050.15 was collected in civil actions.

The more than $160 million in collections in FY 2017 represents approximately 25 times the appropriated $6 million budget for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont in that same period. The bulk of the District of Vermont’s collections in Fiscal Year 2017 were from affirmative civil enforcement cases, in particular the Delaney qui tam in which the United States recovered $155,000,000.

“The District of Vermont’s federal prosecutors and Civil Division attorneys work tirelessly to protect our citizens and to safeguard precious taxpayer resources,” said United States Attorney Christina E. Nolan. “Their efforts enabled us to achieve justice and recoup a significant amount of taxpayer dollars in Fiscal Year 2017.”

The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with the Department of Justice’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 victims, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the Department of Justice’s Crime Victims’ Fund, which distributes the funds to state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.

Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s office in the District of Vermont, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $212,691.00 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2017. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.