Area U.S. Attorney’s Office Increases Collections

The U.S. Attorney's office for the Northern District of Texas has made sizable increases in judgments, settlements, and criminal monetary penalties in the past fiscal year.

That particular U.S. Attorney's office collected just under $33 million dollars in civil judgments, settlements, and criminal monetary penalties during fiscal year 2011. The increase is approximately 36 percent compared to the 2010 fiscal year.

Civil judgments and settlements make up around 64 percent of that total, just over $20,964,000. The Financial Litigation Unit, which is the office responsible for these collections, consists of two attorneys, two paralegals, five collections agents, and one contract employee.

U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña said “During this time of economic recovery and ‘belt tightening,’ these collections are more important than ever.

According to the office’s statistics calculations, the FLU retrieves $99 for every dollar spent.