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Crime & Justiceby Mark Reutter1:30 pmJan 29, 20180

Detailing the “profits” from crime-fighting in Maryland

Federal prosecutors retrieve a tidy sum from the bad behavior of companies and individuals.

Above: Extracting money, sometimes for lighter sentences. (Intel Law Enforcement)

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore has determined – down to the penny – how much they collected from criminal and civil actions across the state over the last fiscal year:

$122,236,532.64, plus $9,876,957 from asset forfeitures.

And there was even more green stuff, they said in a press release today.

In pursuing cases with other U.S. attorney’s offices and divisions within the Department of Justice, the Maryland office credits itself with rounding up another $36,033,331.72.

Nationwide, DOJ says it collected $15 billion in fiscal 2017 from busting criminal conspiracies and unraveling civil wongdoing.

The lion’s share of the receipts came from enforcing criminal cases against drug trafficking, money laundering and the like.

But nearly $50 million came, all told, from civil violations of health, safety, civil rights and environmental laws, most of it from joint actions with other U.S. attorney’s offices.

Money was extracted from violent criminals as well as from violators of health, safety, civil rights and environmental laws.

Parties guilty of civil crimes are often required to pay restitution to those who have suffered a financial loss or physical injury.

Such restitution is paid to the U.S. Crime Victims’ Fund, which distributes the money to state  victim assistance and victim compensation programs.

The biggest fraud cases settled last year were paid to the government itself.

There were settlements against the principals of two IT companies (involving inflated contracts and bribery at Joint Base Andrews in Prince George’s County), two Maryland doctors (to settle false billings to Medicare), and a health services contractor (for double-charging the Internal Revenue Service for vision screenings and electrocardiograms performed on employees).

The Maryland office also collected fines and debts owed to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Small Business Administration and the Department of Education.

Another big case last year involved $44 million in penalties against Cardinal Health Inc. for failing to report suspicious orders of oxycodone and other controlled drugs by pharmacies in Maryland and other states.

Cardinal acknowledged that its Kinray subsidiary failed to report orders of unusual size and unusual frequency to the Drug Enforcement Administration between January 2009 and May 2012.

In 2016, the U.S. attorney in Baltimore reached a $8 million settlement with CVS to resolve allegations that some of its Maryland pharmacies had dispensed fentanyl, oxycodone and hydrocodone based on phony prescriptions.

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