U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom announced today that the District of Kansas collected more than $9.2 million in criminal and civil actions in fiscal year 2015.
Of this amount, more than $6.2 million was collected in criminal actions and $3 million was collected in civil actions, a spokesman said.
Additionally, the District of Kansas worked with other U.S. Attorney’s offices and components of the Justice Department to collect approximately an additional $402,000 in cases pursued jointly with these offices. Of this amount, approximately $12,000 was collected in criminal actions and $390,000 was collected in civil actions.
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced today that the Justice Department collected $23.1 billion in civil and criminal actions in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2015. Collections in FY 2015 represent more than seven and a half times the approximately $2.93 billion of the Justice Department’s combined appropriations for the 93 U.S. Attorneys’ offices and main litigating divisions in that same period.
“Our job is to litigate vigorously and enforce the collection of debts due to the United States and to victims of federal crimes,” U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said. “We’re working hard to carry out that responsibility.”
For instance, in FY 2015 the District of Kansas entered a settlement for a payment of $700,000 from Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC) in a False Claims Act lawsuit. The payment was to settle allegations that a subcontractor, TECT Aerospace, improperly formed wing spars, including fracture critical parts, for use by HBC, the prime contractor in the manufacture of the Joint Primary Aircraft Trainers (T-6A) for the Air Force and Navy.
“The Department of Justice is committed to upholding the rule of law, safeguarding taxpayer resources, and protecting the American people from exploitation and abuse,” said Attorney General Loretta Lynch. “The collections we are announcing today demonstrate not only the strength of that commitment, but also the significant return on public investment that our actions deliver. I want to thank the prosecutors and trial attorneys who made this achievement possible, and to reiterate our dedication to this ongoing work.”
The U.S. Attorney’s 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 Justice Department’s 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 financial, health, safety, civil rights and 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.
Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s office in the District of Kansas, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected more than $3.7 million in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2015. 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.