SACRAMENTO - U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced today that criminal and civil matters handled by the Eastern District of California in Fiscal Year 2023 resulted in collections totaling $169,209,799.
Of this amount, the Eastern District of California directly collected $52,209,799. This included more than $11.6 million in criminal actions and more than $40.5 million in civil actions. Additionally, the Eastern District of California worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $2,181,933 in cases pursued jointly by these offices. More than $32,000 was collected in criminal actions, and more than $2.1 million was collected in civil actions.
Separately, the Department of Justice collected $117 million in a matter handled by the Eastern District of California with assistance from the DOJ’s Commercial Litigation Branch. In April 2023, the Pacific Gas & Electric Corporation paid $117 million to the Department of Justice pursuant to a settlement agreement previously reached in PG&E’s bankruptcy proceedings. This agreement required PG&E to compensate the United States for damages caused by multiple fires occurring within the Eastern District of California prior to the bankruptcy, including the deadly 2018 Camp Fire.
“Thanks go to the Assistant U.S. Attorneys and staff in this office whose collection efforts protect the Eastern District of California residents and safeguard precious taxpayer resources,” said U.S. Attorney Talbert. “We are also thankful to our DOJ and law enforcement partners who make much of this work possible. Together, we remain committed to protecting the public, vigorously pursuing funds that rightfully belong to U.S. taxpayers, and seeking compensation for crime victims.”
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.
Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Eastern District of California, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected more than $8.6 million in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2023. 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.
