Record Level Of Financial Recoveries By Attorney General In ’04 - Funds Recovered For Government And Restitution To Consumers Reach All-Time Highs

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced today a record level of financial recoveries by his office in 2004. Total payments to the state, its local governments and members of the public increased 37 percent to more than $2.3 billion.

"We had a truly remarkable year in 2004," Spitzer said. "We recovered more than $265 million for the state treasury, which will help reduce the tax burden on taxpayers. In addition, we collected over $1.3 billion in restitution payments, which will be paid directly to individuals."

The $265 million in income to the state includes $207 million in judgments and settlements, $38 million in fees, $13 million in penalties, and $7 million in other payments.

The $1.3 billion in restitution includes over $1 billion from Wall Street cases, pursued jointly with the SEC. These funds have been deposited in the federal "Fair Fund," which was created by Congress to provide restitution to injured investors.

The remaining $300 million in restitution comes from the Attorney General’s telecommunications, labor, consumer, charities and other cases, and is paid directly to New Yorkers to cover losses that they incurred.

New York State and its local governments also continue to receive funds from the 1998 tobacco Master Settlement Agreement ("MSA"). MSA revenues in 2004 included $410 million paid to New York State and $392 million paid to local governments, for a total of $802 million. As expected, the 2004 payments were about 16 percent lower than the 2003 payments, because the MSA required the tobacco industry to make two payments per year for the first five years of the agreement, and only one payment per year starting in 2004.

The total budget for the Department of Law is about $214 million per year, of which about $116 million is generated by taxpayer funds.

The comparison of the 2003 and 2004 financial recovery totals is as follows:

Category	2003	2004	% Change
NYS non-tobacco recoveries	$ 251 million	$ 265 million	6 %
Restitution to public	$ 535 million	$ 1,316 million	146 %
Total non-tobacco recoveries	$ 786 million	$ 1,581 million	101%
Total tobacco recoveries	$ 956 million	$ 802 million	- 16 %
Total Recoveries	$ 1.742 billion	$ 2.384 billion	37 %

Note: Some of the above figures include amounts ordered to be paid. Portions of those amounts may be paid in future years, while other amounts may not be collectible.