A total of $148,149,674.47 has been collected in combined criminal, civil and asset forfeiture actions in calendar year 2025, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Across all criminal matters, the Southern District of Texas collected $21,572,847.34 in restitution for crime victims and recovered an additional $85,932,764.13 through civil enforcement actions for the American taxpayer.
Working with partner agencies and divisions, the Southern District also collected $40,644,063 through asset forfeiture. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice’s Asset Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.
One matter that has led to some of the significant collections includes the case against Emylee Thai.
She allegedly owned and operated a lab which submitted claims to Medicare for genetic testing that were medically unnecessary, induced by kickbacks and included false statements as to dates of service and diagnosis codes, all designed to improperly inflate reimbursements.
She fled the country, which paused the criminal prosecution. However, the Southern District of Texas filed a civil forfeiture action seeking approximately $5 million in real property tied to the scheme.
The court entered a default judgment, and the properties were successfully forfeited. The case is being prosecuted in partnership with the Criminal Division’s Texas Health Care Fraud Strike Force.
The district has ongoing proceedings and is also seeking forfeiture in other significant matters, including a Medicare fraud scheme involving $90 million in fraudulent billing.
A podiatrist and self-proclaimed CEO of a local medical clinic, David Jenson, and Nestor Rafael Romero Magallanes, both of Spring, allegedly conspired to fraudulently bill Medicare for skin substitute products for patients who did not have qualifying wounds, or any wounds at all, and to falsify medical records to support these fraudulent claims.
SDTX has seized approximately $83 million in alleged fraud proceeds, including nearly $70 million in cryptocurrency, and is seeking forfeiture of those funds as part of the prosecution and parallel civil forfeiture matter.
A case out of South Texas charging two family members with illicit oil importation, money laundering and material support to a Mexican cartel designated as a foreign terrorist organisation has also led to significant forfeiture seizures and restraints.
Maxwell Sterling Jensen, Draper, Utah, and James Lael Jensen, Sandy, Utah, allegedly funnelled U.S. currency to the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion and facilitated illicit crude oil shipments into the United States.
The pending criminal case seeks the imposition of a money judgment of an estimated $300 million, as well as the forfeiture of funds, vehicles, oil barges, and real property.
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 federal government 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. Restitution is paid to the victim; criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the department’s Crime Victims Fund, which then distributes the funds collected to federal and state victim compensation and assistance programmes.
“The Southern District of Texas’ mission is not only to protect the physical safety of our fellow citizens, but also to safeguard the taxpayer from fraud and abuse. Over the past year, my office has pursued an aggressive enforcement strategy to recover debts owed to crime victims and the American people.
“Those efforts have proven successful. The funds we recovered represent the delivery of justice and concrete results for taxpayers.
“By imposing considerable financial penalties on offenders, my office will continue to make crime more costly and less profitable. Our case results send a loud and unequivocal message to would-be offenders: crime doesn’t pay,” said Ganjei.
