U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut issued the following announcement on Jan. 21.
U.S. Attorney John H. Durham today announced that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut collected $22,755,127.63 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2019. $6,357,454.91 was collected in criminal actions and $16,397,672.72 was collected in civil actions.
Overall, the Justice Department collected a total of just over $9.3 billion in civil and criminal actions in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019.
“This past fiscal year, the talented men and women of our Connecticut office helped to recover more than $22 million for victims of crime and to help us fund important federal, state and local law enforcement efforts,” said U.S. Attorney Durham. “We are committed to seeking justice for victims, taking back ill-gotten gains from lawbreakers, and protecting the integrity of important government programs.”
The largest civil collections in the District of Connecticut 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 owed to 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, were collected by the U.S. Attorney’s Office from debtors located in Connecticut.
All of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s criminal recoveries in fiscal year 2019 were the result of successful enforcement against criminal defendants who committed various types of crime, with the largest recoveries in cases involving wire and securities fraud.
Nationally, 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 victims of federal crimes. 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 directly to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are also collected by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and paid to the department’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 Connecticut, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $3,776,349 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2019. Of this amount $1,606,053 was collected in civil cases and $1,841,763 was collected criminal cases. $328,533 was collected administratively. 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.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office is charged with enforcing federal criminal laws in Connecticut and representing the federal government in civil litigation. The Office is composed of approximately 68 Assistant U.S. Attorneys and approximately 54 staff members at offices in New Haven, Hartford and Bridgeport.
Original source can be found here.
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