BALTIMORE, MD—U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron this week announced that financial collections in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 in the District of Maryland reached $26,206,937.09. The U.S. Department of Justice keeps statistics on a fiscal year basis, closing the books each September 30th.

“Thanks to the hard work and dedication of employees of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our partner agencies, funds recovered far exceed the cost of operating the office,” said Maryland U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron. “We will continue to hold accountable anyone who seeks to profit from illegal activities.”

According to statistics from the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland’s Asset Recovery Unit, which handles both Asset Forfeiture and Financial Litigation, recovered $18,363,220.59 in FY 2021, in criminal debts owed to the U.S. government and to federal crime victims, including restitution, criminal fines, and felony assessments, which was applied directly to restitution owed to victims of crime and other criminal penalties. It also finalized forfeiture on $8,135,791.30 in assets and obtained another $60,513,818.00 in forfeiture money judgments, all of which are eligible to re returned to victims to satisfy restitution once liquidated. In FY 2021 $1,881,580 in forfeiture proceeds were transferred to the Clerk of the United States District Court in Maryland to be paid to victims as restitution.

The statistics show that the District’s Civil Division recovered $7,843,716.50 in cases handled solely within this Office, in civil actions in Maryland including affirmative civil enforcement cases—in which the United States recovered government money lost to fraud or other misconduct or collected penalties imposed on individuals and/or corporations for violations of federal health, safety, civil rights or environmental laws—and debts collected on behalf of several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security. These cases include the successful resolution of investigations or qui tam actions against St. Jude Medical, Inc., Creative Computing Solutions, Inc. and Dr. Njideka Udochi.

Additionally, the District of Maryland worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $37,689,449.53 in cases pursued jointly with these offices. Of this amount, $12,231.39 was collected in criminal actions and $37,677,218.14 was collected in civil actions, including cases resolved under the False Claims Act on behalf of victim agencies such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Education.

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 United States and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered 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 healthcare laws. In addition, civil debts were collected on behalf of several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Internal Revenue Service, the Small Business Administration, and the U.S. Department of Education.

Additional information regarding the Department’s Annual Statistical Reports on prior fiscal years can be found online at https://www.justice.gov/usao/resources/annual-statistical-reports.

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