Source: Office of United States Attorneys
SIOUX FALLS – U.S. Attorney Alison Ramsdell announced today that the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of South Dakota collected $3,496,288.47 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2024. Of this amount, $1,584,408.91 was collected in criminal actions and $1,911,879.56 was collected in civil actions. The District of South Dakota office worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices elsewhere in the country and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $775,964.79. Excluded from these totals are significant recoveries obtained at the end of Calendar Year 2024, such as the $12.7M settlement to resolve alleged False Claims Act violations relating to improper financial relationships between Dunes Surgical Hospital and two physician groups, and the $1.4M paid toward restitution in a pandemic fraud prosecution.
“Ensuring the collection of federal debt restores justice to victims of crime and reinforces the integrity of our governmental institutions,” said U.S. Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell.
In addition to filing 14 new garnishment actions, the Financial Litigation Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office closed 44 civil and criminal restitution cases where the federal debt or victims were paid in full. For example, in a civil case involving the Farm Service Agency (FSA), the Financial Litigation Unit recovered $52,561.75 from a borrower who sold calves in violation of his loan agreement with a local bank. In a criminal case arising from a wire fraud conviction, the same Financial Litigation Unit recovered $36,773.79 from an inheritance the defendant received while in custody, thus providing a substantial recovery to the victims of the defendant’s wire fraud.
United States Attorney’s Offices, along with the Department of Justice’s litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the United States 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.