US Attorney collects over 100M

U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles announces that the District of South Carolina collected $102,759,361 in Fiscal Year 2012 in criminal and civil actions. Of this amount, $6,654,883 was collected in criminal actions and $96,104,478 was collected in civil actions. Nettles said, “To put that in prospective it helps to know the total annual budget for this office is approximately $10 million. An investment in this office by the taxpayers of $10 million produced a return in excess of $100 million. That is an excellent return on investment by any standard.” Recovering funds that are lost from fraud against the government was a top priority in the district. Nettles doubled the number of attorneys working in the Affirmative Civil Enforcement Unit, which handles false claims actions. Of the 93 U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the United States, the District of South Carolina’s collections were the fifth highest. Nationwide, the U.S. Attorneys’offices collected $13.1 billion in criminal and civil actions during Fiscal Year 2012.