Northern District of Texas U.S. Attorney’s Office collects more than $31 Million in civil and criminal actions for U.S. taxpayers in FY 2013
By U.S. Department of Justice
Jan 11, 2014
Print this page
Email this article

DALLAS — U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña announced January 9, 2014 that the Northern District of Texas collected $31,201,427.29 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2013.  Of this amount, $12,400,303.78 was collected in criminal actions and $18,801,123.51 was collected in civil actions. 

Additionally, Northern District of Texas worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $1,323,331.29 in cases pursued jointly with these offices.  Of this amount, $19,567.77 was collected in criminal actions and $1,303,763.52 was collected in civil actions.              

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. Attorney’s offices and the main litigating divisions in that same period.

“The department’s enforcement actions help to not only ensure justice is served, but also deliver a valuable return to the American people,” 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.”

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is dedicated to protecting the public and recovering funds for the federal treasury and victims of federal crimes,” said U.S. Attorney Saldaña.  “For example, in one month alone, the district recovered $6.6 million in one civil health care fraud case.  This kind of recovery not only returns funds to the defrauded federal program, but it serves to deter others from engaging in fraud.”

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 to state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.

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.