Crime pays: U.S. Attorney’s Office collects more than $14 million in civil and criminal actions in fiscal year 2019

Seattle – U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran announced that the Western District of Washington collected more than $14 million in criminal and civil actions in fiscal year 2019. $10.3 million of that amount was collected in criminal cases, while $3.7 was collected in civil cases.

Additionally, the office forfeited more than $4.6 million in criminally involved property in fiscal year 2019.

“Part of holding law breakers accountable is taking the profit out of crime and misconduct,” said U.S. Attorney Brian Moran. 

“I want to recognize the hard work of the attorneys and professional staff in the U.S. Attorney’s Office who work diligently to get offenders to pay up and work to see that civil fines and payments go to help those who have been damaged.”

Criminal and Civil case collections

• In criminal case collections, the office secured more than $2 million in restitution for the investment fraud victims in U.S. v. Dennis Gibb.

• In U.S. v. Steven Ross, the U.S. Attorney’s Office collected the full $368,000 in restitution for this case involving fraud on the Social Security Administration.

• In civil collections, the office collected more than $400,000 from doctors and medical practices who settled allegations they received kickbacks for ordering unnecessary medical tests. And a nationwide flooring company paid more than $133,000 to settle allegations it paid kickbacks for government work.

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.

Forfeiture of criminally-involved property

Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Washington, working with partner agencies and divisions, forfeited $4,625,430 in criminally-involved property in FY 2019. The proceeds from those forfeitures are deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund, where they are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.

• In 2019, significant Department of Justice forfeitures included the criminal forfeiture of $745,000 real property and financial accounts in U.S. v. Lionel Hampton, et al. The criminal group distributed controlled substances including oxycodone and laundered the proceeds through real property purchases.

• In a second case, U.S. v. Keenan Gracey, the office forfeited nearly $604,000 in proceeds that Gracey paid to rent a mansion used in the fraud scheme. We have requested that these funds be applied to Gracey’s restitution order and paid to his victims.