Prosecutions for April 2014
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during April 2014 the government reported 231 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Internal Revenue Service. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 41.7 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged are based on case-by-case information obtained by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (see Table 1).
When monthly 2014 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-16.3%). Prosecutions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are up 29.7 percent from levels reported in 2009.
The increase from the levels five years ago in prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of prosecutions of this type recorded on a month-to-month basis. Where a prosecution was initially filed in U.S. Magistrate Court and then transferred to the U.S. District Court, the magistrate filing date was used since this provides an earlier indicator of actual trends. The superimposed line on the bars plots the six-month moving average so that natural fluctuations are smoothed out. The one and five-year rates of change in Table 1 and in the sections that follow are all based upon this six-month moving average. To view trends year-by-year rather than month-by-month, see TRAC's annual report series for a broader picture.
Cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
The largest number of prosecutions of these matters in April 2014 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 54.1 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (24.7%), " Money Laundering-Other" (4.8%), "Fraud-Other" (3.5%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In April 2014, 19 defendants in cases for these matters were filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. These courts handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In addition, complaints are sometimes filed in the magistrate courts before an indictment or information is entered. In these cases, the matter starts in the magistrate courts and later moves to the district court where subsequent proceedings take place.
In the magistrate courts in April the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 286 involving "Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims". This was the lead charge for 21.1 percent of all magistrate filings in April.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In April 2014, 212 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during April there were an additional 9 defendants whose cases moved from the magistrate courts to the U.S. district courts after an indictment or information was filed. The sections which follow cover both sets of cases and therefore cover all matters filed in district court during April.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during April 2014 referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 40 1 1 1 More 18 USC 286 - Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims 27 2 4 3 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 23 3 3 2 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 9 4 8 6 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 8 5 6 9 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 8 5 5 4 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 6 7 2 21 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 5 8 16 - More 26 USC 7202 - Willful failure to collect or pay over tax 5 8 10 13 More 31 USC 5324 - Structuring transactions to evade reporting requir 5 8 9 10 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Fraud and False statements" (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Fraud and False statements" (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 286. "Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 286 was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Attempt to evade or defeat tax" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201. "Attempt to evade or defeat tax" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201 was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 28.9 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 287 that involves " False, fictitious or fraudulent claims ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 1400 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Public money, property or records " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 73.7 percent — was " Public money, property or records " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 15.3 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Attempt to evade or defeat tax " (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In April 2014 the Justice Department said the government brought 84.5 prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of prosecutions that are filed in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of prosecutions per capita for these matters last month are shown in Table 3. Districts must have at least 5 prosecutions to receive a ranking.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Ohio, S 457 22 1 6 10 More Penn, W 253 8 2 27 6 More Nevada 217 5 3 18 10 More Ala, N 211 5 4 76 54 More Fla, S 208 12 5 3 2 More Ill, N 167 13 6 15 3 More Ohio, N 167 8 6 12 23 More Fla, M 147 13 8 5 8 More Ga, N 132 7 9 15 36 More Arizona 128 7 10 21 24 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) — with 457 prosecutions as compared with 84.5 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during April 2014. The Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) was ranked 6 a year ago, while it was ranked 10 for most frequent use five years ago.
The Western District of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) ranked 2nd.
District of Nevada is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland), now ranked 6th , and Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) at 6th In the same order, these districts ranked 12th and 15th one year ago and 23rd and 3rd five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 1100 percent — was Northern District of Alabama (Birmingham). This was the same district that had the largest increase — 300 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 21.3 percent — was Southern District of Florida (Miami). But over the past five years, Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) showed the largest drop — 41.4 percent.
Top Ranked District Judges
At any one time, there are about 680 federal District Court judges working in the United States. The judges recorded with the largest number of new crime cases of this type during April 2014 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Smith, George Curtis Ohio, S 9 1 More Adams, Henry Lee, Jr. Fla, M 6 2 More Marbley, Algenon L. Ohio, S 5 3 More Zloch, William J. Fla, S 4 4 More Fischer, Nora Barry Penn, W 4 4 More Smith, Walter Scott, Jr. Texas, W 4 4 More Steele, William H. Ala, S 3 7 More Bolton, Susan Ritchie Arizona 3 7 More Wright, Susan Webber Ark, E 3 7 More Morrow, Margaret M. Cal, C 3 7 More Krieger, Marcia S. Colorado 3 7 More Steele, John E. Fla, M 3 7 More Lenard, Joan A. Fla, S 3 7 More Leinenweber, Harry Daniel Ill, N 3 7 More Kugler, Robert B. N. J. 3 7 More Dorsey, Jennifer Anna Nevada 3 7 More Adams, John R. Ohio, N 3 7 More Helmick, Jeffrey James Ohio, N 3 7 More Frost, Gregory L. Ohio, S 3 7 More Schwab, Arthur J. Penn, W 3 7 More Lee, Gerald Bruce Virg, E 3 7 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 14 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings per capita, while the remaining 7 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 21 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge George Curtis Smith in the Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) ranked 1st with 9 defendants in cases.
Judge Henry Lee Adams, Jr. in the Middle District of Florida (Tampa) ranked 2nd with 6 defendants in cases.
Judge Algenon L. Marbley in the Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) ranked 3rd with 5 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: July 3, 2014
