The Connecticut U.S. Attorney’s office collected $112.7 million in fines and victim restitution from violators in fiscal 2014 – a nearly ten-fold increase from a year earlier, authorities say.
U.S, Attorney Deirdre M. Daly said Friday that $95.2 million stemmed from criminal actions and $17.5 million came from civil cases that her team of federal prosecutors and investigators handled in the 12 months ended Sept. 30.
That’s on top of another $174 million the Connecticut district office retrieved in concert with other U.S. Attorneys’ offices and divisions within the federal Justice Department, officials said.
In fiscal 2013, the Connecticut office on its own collected $11.6 million, plus another $26 million in concert with other U.S. Attorneys’ offices that year.
In all, federal prosecutors racked up $24.7 billion in collections on civil and criminal actions in fiscal 2014. By comparison, the budget for all 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices was $2.9 billion in fiscal 2014.
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 government said.
In addition, forfeited assets go into the Justice Department’s asset-forfeiture fund, with much of the proceeds with state and local police agencies.
