LAKE COUNTY, Ind. -- The Northern District of Indiana United States Attorney's Office announced on Friday that it collected a total of $5,219,650 in civil and criminal actions in fiscal year 2024.

"Of this amount, $2,667,519 was collected in criminal actions and $2,552,131 was collected in civil actions," the USAO said. 

On top of that, Indiana's Northern District also worked with other USAOs and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $1,925,938 from cases pursued jointly. Of that amount, $2,200 was collected in criminal actions and $1,923,738 was collected in civil actions.

"For example, one of the civil cases handled in conjunction with the Environmental Enforcement Section of the Department of Justice, resulted in the recovery of $1,018,433 as part of a settlement agreement reached in the matter of United States v. Cleveland-Cliffs Burns Harbor, LLC," the USAO said.

Additionally, the Northern District of Indiana worked with partner agencies and divisions to collect $855,895 in asset forfeiture actions in 2024. 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.

2024 collections were roughly $5,000 more than 2023.

In fiscal year (Oct. 1 to Sept. 30) 2023, the USAO for the Northern District of Indiana collected $5,214,677.59 in civil and criminal actions, $2,898,640.06 in criminal and $2,316,037.53 in civil actions.

In 2022, $7,065,356 was collected in civil ($493,806.17) and criminal ($6,571,549.94) actions.