COLUMBUS, Ohio – U.S. Attorney David M. DeVillers announced today that the Southern District of Ohio was involved in the collection of approximately $181.5 million over the past fiscal year.
The Southern District of Ohio collected more than $98 million in criminal and civil actions in fiscal year 2019. Of this amount, nearly $91.5 million was collected in criminal actions and approximately $6.7 million was collected in civil actions.
Additionally, the Southern District of Ohio worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $79.5 million in cases pursued jointly by these offices.
“Our collection figures make clear that our work delivers a significant return on public investment,” said U.S. Attorney DeVillers.
The largest single recovery in a criminal case this year involved a fine ordered against GS Caltex Corporation for nearly $46.7 million, which was paid in full.
GS Caltex Corporation was one of five South Korean oil companies involved in rigging bids to defraud the U.S. Department of Defense.
Throughout the course of a conspiracy that lasted more than a decade, the five South Korean oil companies conspired to raise the price of key contracts that provided fuel on U.S. military bases in South Korea.
Assistant United States Attorneys in the Southern District of Ohio worked with the Antitrust and Civil Divisions of the Department of Justice to obtain guilty pleas and criminal fines, civil penalties and damages to the United States totaling more than $350 million.
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 numerous 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.
The U.S. Attorney’s office, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected approximately $4 milllion in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2019. 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.
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.
