U.S. Attorney’s Office Collects Over $3.9 Million for U.S. Taxpayers in Fiscal Year 2020

PORTLAND, Maine:  U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced today that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine collected more than $3.9 million in criminal, civil and asset forfeiture actions in Fiscal Year (FY) 2020.

The office collected $2,510,154.90 in criminal and civil actions in FY 2020. Of this amount, $1,266,454.39 was collected in criminal actions and $1,243,700.51 was collected in civil actions.

Working with partner agencies and divisions, the office also collected $1,402,885.75 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2020. 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 works for the taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney Frank. “So it is always gratifying to learn that our team’s efforts have led to the successful collection of funds on their behalf. We will continue to seek justice for crime victims and to ensure that criminals do not profit from their illegal behavior.”

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 collected to federal and state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.

As a whole, the Justice Department collected more than $15.9 billion in civil and criminal actions in FY 2020. This amount represents more than five times the approximately $3.2 billion appropriated budget for the 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices and the main litigating divisions of the Justice Department combined in that same period. The total includes all monies collected through Justice Department-led enforcement actions and negotiated civil settlements. It includes more than $13.5 billion in payments made directly to the Justice Department, and more than $2.4 billion in indirect payments made to other federal agencies, states and other designated recipients.