Bank Fraud Duo Reels in $4M-plus in Restitution and Taxes

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – U.S. Attorney Jim Lewis announced that his office collected $11.5 million in criminal and civil actions for taxpayers in fiscal year 2013. The total includes $1,199,629 in delinquent taxes and $2,596,194 in restitution for victims of a bank fraud and money laundering case involving Gary and Toni Jo Wilder, owners of Bloomington-based Wildwood Industries, Inc.

The Wildwood Industries case is just one example of the Central District’s efforts to hold people accountable and collect restitution for victims of crime. In addition to the Wildwood case, the U.S. Attorney’s office also collected $528,000 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2013. Forfeited assets deposited into the Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for law enforcement purposes.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced last Thursday that the Justice Department collected approximately $8.1 billion in civil and criminal actions in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2013. The more than $8 billion in collections in FY 2013 represents nearly three times the appropriated $2.76 billion budget for the 94 U.S. Attorney’s offices and the main litigating divisions in that same period.

“The department’s enforcement actions help to not only ensure justice is served, but also deliver a valuable return to the American people,” said Attorney General Holder. “It is critical that Congress provide the resources necessary to match the department’s mounting caseload. As these figures show, supporting our federal prosecutors is a sound investment.”

U.S. Attorney Lewis echoed Holder’s sentiments, saying, “We hold people accountable when the law says that they should be accountable. We collect restitution for victims of crime, we collect damages if there has been fraud in government programs, we collect debts owed to the government, and we protect federal funds and the public treasury. We do our very best to make sure that justice is done.”

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 Crime Victims’ Fund, which distributes the funds to state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.

The largest civil collections were from affirmative civil enforcement cases, in which the United States recovered government money lost to fraud or other misconduct or collected fines imposed on individuals and/or corporations for violations of federal health, safety, civil rights or environmental laws. In addition, civil debts were collected on behalf of several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Service, Small Business Administration and Department of Education.

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