U.S. Attorneys brought in the biggest financial collection in the Justice Department’s history during fiscal 2010 from actions in civil and criminal cases, the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s office announced Thursday.
The 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices located across the nation collected almost $6.7 billion from Oct. 1, 2009, to Sept. 30, 2010 — an increase of more than 45 percent from fiscal 2009.
The offices secured about $3.8 billion through civil actions in fiscal 2010, mostly from fines and the recovery of federal funds lost to fraud. Restitution, fines and felony assessments from criminal cases handled by the offices brought in more than $2.8 billion during the last fiscal year.
Big health care fraud cases and large criminal restitution cases over the past year helped bring the 57 percent increase in the civil collection and 30 percent increase in the criminal collection from fiscal 2009 to 2010, according to the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s office. Attorney General Eric Holder made the fight against health care fraud a top DOJ priority after taking office in 2009.
The U.S. Attorneys’ offices also collected $1.8 billion in fiscal 2010 from asset-forfeiture actions.
“In a time when we all worry about the bottom line, U.S. Attorneys’ offices offer a good return on the taxpayers’ investment,” New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman , vice chairman of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys, said in a statement.
He added: “These numbers show that federal prosecution is remarkably cost-effective.”
