Downtown

U.S. Attorney’s Office for Eastern District of NY joins in over $2.2B In civil, criminal actions, forefeitures

January 10, 2014 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Screen Shot 2013-05-20 at 9.08.14 AM.png
Share this:

U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch announced Friday that the Eastern District of New York, working collaboratively with other offices as well as on its own, collected over $904 million in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2013.

Of this total amount, $725,564,627.70 resulted from cases handled in conjunction with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice. Collections from criminal and civil actions handled solely by the Eastern District of New York totaled $178,848,788.63.

In addition, working with partner agencies and divisions, the Eastern District forfeited another $1,319,038,046 in assets tainted by crime. Forfeited assets are deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund and the Treasury Forfeiture Fund and are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.

The combined joint collections and asset forfeiture recoveries for the Eastern District total of more than $2.2 billion exceeds the appropriated $1.86 billion operating budget for all U.S. Attorneys’ Offices nationwide.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Thursday that the Justice Department collected approximately $8.1 billion in civil and criminal actions in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2013. The more than $8 billion in collections in FY 2013 represents nearly three times the appropriated $2.76 billion budget for the 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices and the main litigating divisions in that same period.

“The Department’s enforcement actions help not only to ensure justice is served, but also deliver a valuable return to the taxpayer,” said Attorney General Holder. “It is critical that Congress provide the resources necessary to match the Department’s mounting caseload. As these figures show, supporting our federal prosecutors is a sound investment.”

In the Eastern District as well as nationwide, 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.

“Working with our colleagues across the nation as well as on our own, the Eastern District of New York stands firm in its resolve to protect the public and recover funds for the federal treasury and for victims of crime,” stated U.S. Attorney Lynch. “Collections and asset forfeiture are important tools in our arsenal as we seek to ensure that crime does not pay. We are honored to be part of this web of protection for the American people.”

Subscribe to our newsletters


Leave a Comment


Leave a Comment