Source: Office of United States Attorneys
SCRANTON – Acting U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus announced today that the Middle District of Pennsylvania collected $17,444,425 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2024. Of this amount, $3,588,583 was collected in criminal actions and $13,855,841 was collected in civil actions.
The Middle District of Pennsylvania also worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $5,108,801 in cases pursued jointly by these offices. Of this amount, $16,233 was collected in criminal actions and $5,092,567 was collected in civil actions.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to working for victims of crime and do what we can to make them whole,” said Acting U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus. “We collect restitution from convicted defendants on behalf of crime victims, we work to forfeit the ill-gotten gains that defendants obtain through illegal means, and we fight to get back money owed to taxpayers in criminal and civil cases. I am proud to say that we have collected millions of dollars over the last year for the taxpayers and for crime victims in our district.”
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.
For example:
- Penn State Health is a multi-hospital system and offers Annual Wellness Visits which are reimbursable through Medicare. In 2023, Penn State Health made a self-disclosure to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The U.S. Attorney’s Office found that between December 1, 2015 and November 30, 2022, Penn State Health submitted claims for Annual Wellness Visits that were not supported by the wellness record. A settlement agreement was entered into in February 2024, in which Penn State health agreed to pay $11,712,336.
- Defendant Jimmy Tran owned and operated a small food market and convenience store, Asia Market, in Harrisburg, PA. The store was approved to participate in SNAP. From January 2017 – August 2020, the defendant traded SNAP benefits in exchange for cash. The total amount of SNAP benefits that were illegally exchanged for cash is $1,843,534.00. The payment of $299,174.60 was due to forfeiture/restoration.
Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $1,311,135 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2024. 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.
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