The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut collected more than $49 million in criminal and civil actions in fiscal year 2018, more than $7 million which was collected in criminal actions and more than $42 million from civil actions.

Overall, the Justice Department collected a total of just over $15 billion in civil and criminal actions in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2018.

“We are gratified that these funds are returned directly to victims of crime, provide needed services for these victims and fund ongoing federal, state and local law enforcement efforts,” U.S. Attorney John Durham said in a statement. One of our primary missions is to seek justice for victims, remove ill-gotten gains from wrongdoers and protect the integrity of important government programs.”

The largest civil collections in the District of Connecticut were from affirmative civil enforcement cases, in which the U.S. recovered government money lost to fraud or other misconduct, or collected fines imposed on individuals and/or corporations for violations of federal health, safety, civil rights or environmental laws.

All of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s criminal recoveries in fiscal year 2018 were the result of successful enforcement against criminal defendants who committed various types of crime, with the largest recoveries in cases involving wire and securities fraud.

In addition, civil debts owed to several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Service, Small Business Administration and Department of Education, were collected by the U.S. Attorney’s Office from debtors located in Connecticut.

Nationally, 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 victims of federal crimes. 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 directly to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are also collected by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and paid to the department’s Crime Victims’ Fund, which distributes the funds to state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.

Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s office in the District of Connecticut, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected more than $5 million in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2018. Of this amount, close to $4 million was collected in civil cases and $826,833 was collected criminal cases.

Another $618,608 was collected administratively. 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 is charged with enforcing federal criminal laws in Connecticut and representing the federal government in civil litigation. The office is composed of approximately 68 Assistant U.S. Attorneys and approximately 57 staff members at offices in New Haven, Hartford and Bridgeport.