Feds Seize $89M From Alleged New Jersey Crooks In FY 2016

Federal authorities seized more than $89 million from alleged crooks through civil and criminal actions in New Jersey during the last fiscal year, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Authorities announced Friday that law enforcement and court officials collected $23.1 million via criminal actions and $66.3 million through civil actions in New Jersey during the 2016 fiscal year. In addition, the District of New Jersey also worked with other U.S. Attorney's Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $672.7 million in cases pursued jointly with these offices, totaling $317,114 via criminal actions and $672.4 million via civil actions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated.

Overall, the U.S. Justice Department collected nearly $15.4 billion in civil and criminal actions in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, more than five times the appropriated $2.93 billion budget for the 94 U.S. Attorneys' offices and the main litigating divisions of the Justice Department combined, authorities stated.

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 health, safety, civil rights or environmental laws.

In addition, civil debts were collected on behalf of 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.

"Every day, the men and women of the Department of Justice work tirelessly to enforce our laws, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are used properly and that the American people are protected from exploitation and abuse," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said. "Our actions deliver a significant return on public investment.”

During the 2016 fiscal year, significant recoveries in the District of New Jersey included:

• $8.7 million from the sale of a New York condo owned by Garrett Bauer, who was sentenced in June 2012 to 108 months in prison for his role in an insider trading scheme.
• $2.6 million in criminal forfeiture from the owners of two healthcare companies that defrauded Medicaid and Medicare. Paul Mil was sentenced to 54 months in prison and Irina Krutoyarsky to 60 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and other crimes.
• $2.3 million in property and funds from various defendants in the Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services LLC case, in which millions of dollars in bribes were paid to physicians over a number of years in exchange for blood sample referrals to the lab.

WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO?

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, federal law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain 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 to state victim compensation and victim assistance programs, authorities said.

Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s office in the District of New Jersey, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $41.8 million in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2016. 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,” authorities stated.

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