U.S. attorney's office collects $51M

YOUNGSTOWN -- The U.S. attorney's office collected more than $51 million in fines, forfeitures, assets and restitutions for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.
U.S. Attorney Gregory A. White said in a press release Wednesday that the money collected is more than 3 1/2 times his office's annual operating budget of $13.6 million, which includes the salaries of 162 full- and part-time employees based in Cleveland, Youngstown, Akron and Toledo.
The money collected includes $17.7 million in criminal fines, assessments and restitutions, $1.6 million in foreclosure cases, and $7 million in assets forfeited as the result of seizures of illegally acquired or used cash, cars and real estate. The office also recovered funds from bankruptcy, environmental and other civil cases.
The Affirmative Civil Enforcement Program recovered more than $24.5 million in cases involving false claims filed with the government, White said.
Money collected in civil cases is deposited in the U.S. Treasury. Money collected in criminal cases is used to make restitution and/or provide assistance to the victims of crime, White said.