Financial Litigation Unit
The Financial Litigation Unit (FLU) is responsible for the enforcement of monetary impositions ordered as a result of criminal convictions in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. The purpose of criminal monetary impositions, both fines and restitution, is to compensate victims of crime. Additionally, the FLU is responsible for taking to judgement defaulted federal debts, including but not limited to student loans owed to the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and collecting these civil judgments. Following is a description of the areas of responsibility of the Financial Litigation Unit:
- Pursuing the collection of fines, special assessments, restitution, costs, and penalties owed by criminal defendants (both corporate and individual);
- Pursuing civil judgments on defaulted government loans issued by the Department of Education, Small Business Administration, Veterans Administration, the Department of Agriculture, and other federal entities, and the collection of such judgments;
- Pursuing civil judgments for overpayments made by the United States under various government programs to individuals (such as Social Security, Veterans' benefits, Medicare, and Department of Defense stipends), and the collection of such judgments;
- Pursuing collection of monetary judgments in successful civil fraud prosecutions (such as health care fraud and procurement fraud);
- Pursuing the collection of environmental fines and penalties, emanating from civil and criminal litigation;
- Pursuing the collection of civil penalties, interest, costs, and surcharges, when appropriate.
The Financial Litigation Unit strives to collect federal debts efficiently and aggressively. Efforts include locating debtors and hidden assets in this country and abroad, setting repayment arrangements, and initiating post-judgment remedies such as wage garnishment. The FLU employs both Federal and State legal remedies to collect required payments.
The FLU works closely with other federal agencies involved in the collection of federal debts. These include the United States Probation Office, the Clerk of the U.S. District Court, and the Internal Revenue Service.