Convictions for April 2014

Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service

Number Latest Month 153
Percent Change from previous month -8.9
Percent Change from 1 year ago 24.0
Percent Change from 5 years ago (Including Magistrate Court) 44.6
Percent Change from 5 years ago (Excluding Magistrate Court) 45.7
Table 1. Criminal Convictions

The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during April 2014 the government reported 153 new convictions 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 down 8.9 percent over the previous month.

The comparisons of the number of defendants convicted 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 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was up (24%). Convictions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are up 44.6 percent from levels reported in 2009.

Bar and line plot of FYMON

Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Convictions

The increase from the levels five years ago in convictions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of convictions 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 convictions of these matters in April 2014 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 55.6 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (13.1%), " Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (5.9%), "Money Laundering-Other" (5.9%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (4.6%), "Theft-Government Property" (2.6%). See Figure 2.

Pie chart of progcatlabel

Figure 2. Specific Types of Convictions

Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts

Top Ranked Lead Charges

In April 2014, no 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.

Convictions in U.S. District Courts

In April 2014, 153 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during April there were an additional 0 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 convictions 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 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 26 1 2 2 More
26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 25 2 1 1 More
18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 17 3 6 4 More
18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 11 4 4 5 More
18 USC 286 - Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims 9 5 5 7 More
18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 9 5 17 19 More
18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 6 7 14 27 More
31 USC 5324 - Structuring transactions to evade reporting requir 5 8 7 6 More
18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 3 9 3 3 More
26 USC 7202 - Willful failure to collect or pay over tax 3 9 13 10 More
Table 2. Top Charges for Convictions

  • "Attempt to evade or defeat tax" (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Attempt to evade or defeat tax" (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.

  • Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Fraud and False statements" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206. "Fraud and False statements" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206 was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.

  • Ranked 3rd was "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 371. "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 was ranked 6 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five years ago.

Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions — up 414.3 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 that involves " Fraud and related activity - id documents ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 2700 percent — was registered for convictions 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 convictions compared to one year ago — down 52.9 percent — was " Laundering of monetary instruments " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 46.7 % — when compared with five years ago.

Top Ranked Judicial Districts

In April 2014 the Justice Department said the government obtained 58.5 convictions for every ten million people in the United States.

Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of convictions in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.

The districts registering the largest number of convictions per capita for these matters last month are shown in Table 3. Districts must have at least 5 convictions to receive a ranking.


Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago  
Fla, S 364 21 1 1 2 More
Ind, N 233 5 2 46 39 More
Mo, W 232 6 3 14 71 More
Ohio, N 208 10 4 12 35 More
Mich, E 112 6 5 25 4 More
Arizona 110 6 6 18 17 More
Fla, M 102 9 7 7 27 More
N. Y., E 88 6 8 10 6 More
N. J. 81 6 9 4 11 More
Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)

  • The Southern District of Florida (Miami) — with 364 convictions as compared with 58.5 convictions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during April 2014. The Southern District of Florida (Miami) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 for most frequent use five years ago.

  • The Northern District of Indiana (South Bend) ranked 2nd.

  • Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) is now ranking 3rd.

Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland), now ranked 4th , and Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) at 3rd In the same order, these districts ranked 12th and 14th one year ago and 35th and 71st five years ago.

The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago — 250 percent — was Northern District of Indiana (South Bend). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 1600 percent — was Western District of Missouri (Kansas City).

In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of convictions — 29.6 percent — was New Jersey .  But over the past five years, Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) showed the largest drop — 21.1 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 resulting in convictions of this type during April 2014 are shown in Table 4.

Judge Count Rank  
Helmick, Jeffrey James Ohio, N 6 1 More
Scola, Robert Nichols, Jr. Fla, S 5 2 More
Hopkins, Virginia Emerson Ala, N 4 3 More
Rosenbaum, Robin S. Fla, S 4 3 More
Teilborg, James A. Arizona 3 5 More
Scriven, Mary Stenson Fla, M 3 5 More
Dimitrouleas, William P. Fla, S 3 5 More
DeGuilio, Jon Ernest Ind, N 3 5 More
Bianco, Joseph Frank N. Y., E 3 5 More
Gergel, Richard Mark S Car 3 5 More
Table 4. Top Ten Judges

A total of 8 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of convictions per capita, while the remaining 2 judges were from other districts.

  • Judge Jeffrey James Helmick in the Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland) ranked 1st with 6 convicted in convictions.

  • Judge Robert Nichols Scola, Jr. in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 2nd with 5 convicted in convictions.

  • Judges Virginia Emerson Hopkins in the Northern District of Alabama (Birmingham) and Robin S. Rosenbaum in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 3rd with 4 convicted in convictions.

Report Generated: July 3, 2014
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