PORTLAND, Maine: U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee announced today that the District of Maine collected $8,292,916.71 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2022. Of this amount, $2,387,668.51 was collected in criminal actions and $5,905,248.20 was collected in civil actions.
Additionally, the District of Maine worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $1,372.96 in cases pursued jointly by these offices. The amount was collected in criminal actions.
“Recovering funds on behalf of taxpayers is a priority for our office,” said U.S. Attorney McElwee. “We will continue to work to ensure that crime victims and the taxpayers of the United States receive the money that is due to them.”
Of the civil collections achieved by the District of Maine, $5,306,125 resulted from an August out‑of-court compromise of civil penalties assessed by the International Trade Commission against DBN Holding, Inc. and BDN LLC, formerly known as DeLorme Publishing Company, Inc. and DeLorme InReach LLC. As part of the settlement, DBN and BDN agreed to pay the $5,306,125 settlement amount in consideration for a release of the United States’ claims. DBN and BDN made no admissions of liability and cooperated throughout the Government’s collection case.
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 District of Maine, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $717,559 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2021. 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.
For more information about the Crime Victims Fund, please visit https://ovc.ojp.gov/about/crime-victims-fund.
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