District of New Jersey Collects $214 Million in Civil and Criminal Actions in Fiscal Year 2023

NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today that the District of New Jersey collected a total of $214 million in Fiscal Year 2023. Of this amount, $33.4 million was collected in criminal actions and $13.4 million was collected in civil actions. The district also collected $91 million in cases the office handled jointly with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice, including $90.9 million in civil actions and $60,851 in criminal actions. In addition, the district recovered $71.5 million in civil bankruptcy proceedings where individuals and businesses owed debts to federal agencies.  And the district, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $4.7 million in asset forfeiture actions.

Significant recoveries included a $14.7 million False Claims Act settlement the District of New Jersey entered into with Biotelemetry Inc. and Lifewatch Services Inc. Both companies were alleged to have knowingly submitted inflated claims for remote cardiac monitoring that were not supported by medical necessity. The district also recovered $4.25 million in an FCA settlement with Watermark Retirement Communities LLC, a senior living facility alleged to have received kickbacks in return for referrals to a nationwide home health agency which previously settled its liability with the government for $17 million. The district’s significant bankruptcy recoveries included over $18 million of delinquent tax debts for the IRS and over $16 million of outstanding commercial loans for the U.S. Small Business Administration.        

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. 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. Recoveries in bankruptcy are returned to the federal agencies that are creditors in the case.