Eastern District of Virginia recovers more than $25M for crime victims, taxpayers

The asset recovery unit for the Eastern District of Virginia has collected more than $25 million for crime victims and taxpayers in fiscal year 2023.

U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber credited the attorney’s and staff in the unit for ensuring the funds were recovered.

The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with the Department of Justice’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.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in EDVA collected more than $16,254,828.05 in restitution for crime victims in fiscal year 2023. 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.

Breaking it down

• $16.9 million was collected in criminal actions
• $5.7 million was collected in civil actions pursued independently
• EDVA also worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect $3.1 million in cases pursued jointly by these offices. Of this amount, $513,031 was collected in criminal actions and more than $2.5 million was collected in civil actions.
• Forfeited assets are either deposited into the Department of Justice assets forfeiture fund or are used to restore funds to crime victims. Assets