U.S. Attorney’s Office Collects Nearly $12 Million in Fiscal Year 2020 | USAO-WDOK

OKLAHOMA CITY – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma has commenced civil and criminal proceedings for $ 11,900,775.79 in the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020, U.S. attorney Timothy J. Downing announced. Of that amount, the office collected civil lawsuits for $ 8,954,620.22 and criminal cases for $ 2,946,155.57.

The US law firms, along with the Justice Department’s litigation departments, are responsible for the enforcement and recovery of civil and criminal debts to the United States and criminal debts to victims of federal crimes. The law requires defendants to pay compensation to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered personal injury or financial loss. While a refund is being paid to the victim, fines and offenses are paid to the Department of Justice’s Crime Victims Fund, which distributes funds to victim compensation and victim support programs at the federal and state levels.

In total, the Department of Justice raised more than $ 15.9 billion in civil and criminal justice in fiscal 2020, which ended September 30, 2020. The $ 15,988,516,670 of collections in fiscal 2020 is more than five times the estimated budget of approximately $ 3.2 billion for these funds.The 94 U.S. law firms and key litigation departments of the Justice Department have merged over the same period. The total includes all funds raised as a result of Justice Department-led enforcement efforts and negotiated civil settlements. It includes payments of more than $ 13.5 billion made directly to the Department of Justice and indirect payments of more than $ 2.4 billion to other federal agencies, states, and other designated recipients.

“Reclaiming funds for victims in criminal matters and returning taxpayers’ money in civil matters are fundamental elements in our pursuit of justice,” said US attorney Downing. “The collections of fiscal 2020 speak to the tremendous work of women and men in my office and the commitment of our financial disputes department.”

Some of the highlights of the Fiscal 2020 fiscal year collection effort for the Western District of Oklahoma include:

• A $ 3 million civil settlement reached in December 2019 with LaForge & Budd Construction Company, Inc. in a dispute over alleged false claims for advances for work carried out in 2010 on the Lake George Dam at the Fort Sill Army Post in Lawton, Oklahoma.
• In June 2020, $ 2.8 million was reclaimed from Tulsa-based contractor Ross Group Construction Corporation for alleging it had received fraudulent federal shutdown contracts for disadvantaged small businesses.
• $ 488,491 was reclaimed from a Texas oil and gas company, EnerVest Operating, LLC, for unauthorized claims for unauthorized drilling, extraction, and sales of federal minerals.
• In July 2020, Ricky Erwin recovered $ 110,490 in criminal refunds from proceeds owed in a 2019 unlawful death case. Erwin was convicted of tax evasion in 2016.
• A $ 70,000 Controlled Substances Act settlement in March 2020 with Floyd Smith, MD, an anesthesiologist practicing in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The United States stated that Dr. Smith wrote prescriptions for controlled substances to family members in violation of state law, with no medical records kept on family members and with no apparent medical purpose.

These examples do not include additional restores from cases processed in collaboration with other components of the Justice Department. For example, the Western District of Oklahoma, in cooperation with colleagues from the Department of Civil Fraud of the Department of Justice, reclaimed US $ 72.3 million in July 2020 to clarify reimbursement claims against the Oklahoma Center for Orthopedic and Multi-Specialty Surgery, a specialty hospital in Oklahoma City . USP OKC, Inc. and USP OKC Manager, Inc., and Southwest Orthopedic Specialists, PLLC (SOS), an Oklahoma City-based medical group. This is the second largest recreation in the history of the western district of Oklahoma.

In addition, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma deposited $ 1,184,508 into the Department of Justice’s Asset Forfeiture Fund in fiscal 2020. This amount does not include proceeds from assets that expired in 2020 and have not yet been sold. Many forfeited assets are being returned to crime victims. When this is not possible, foreclosure proceeds are paid into a central fund and used to support crime victims across the country and for various law enforcement purposes.

Click here to download a photo of US Attorney Downing.