Prosecutions for April 2016
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during April 2016 the government reported 179 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 31.6 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 2016 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-11.2%). Prosecutions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are down 1.6 percent from levels reported in 2011.
The leveling out 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 2016 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 38.5 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (15.6%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (14.5%), "Organized Crime-Emerging Organization" (10.1%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (6.1%), "Fraud-Other" (5%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In April 2016, 31 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 1959 involving "Violent crimes in aid of racketeering activity". This was the lead charge for 58.1 percent of all magistrate filings in April.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents" (22.6%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In April 2016, 148 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during April there were an additional 5 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 2016 referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 29 1 1 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 25 2 9 5 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 18 3 2 2 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 8 4 6 - More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 8 4 8 9 More 18 USC 286 - Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims 7 6 3 8 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 5 7 5 4 More 18 USC 510 - Forging endorsements on Treasury checks, bonds se 4 8 - 26 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 4 8 10 22 More 26 USC 7202 - Willful failure to collect or pay over tax 4 8 11 17 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 "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846. "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 was ranked 9 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 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 2 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 20 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 that involves " Public money, property or records ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 900 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Fraud and related activity - id documents " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 46.9 percent — was " Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 286 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 46.7 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 2016 the Justice Department said the government brought 57.6 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 Texas, W 421 24 1 3 21 More Fla, S 235 14 2 1 5 More N. Y., S 161 7 3 13 21 More Penn, E 103 5 4 13 15 More N. Y., E 101 7 5 2 19 More Cal, E 91 6 6 12 10 More Cal, N 88 6 7 8 14 More Fla, M 77 7 8 21 10 More Ill, N 77 6 8 3 1 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) — with 421 prosecutions as compared with 57.6 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during April 2016. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 3 a year ago.
The Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 2nd. The Southern District of Florida (Miami) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
Southern District of New York (Manhattan) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of California (Sacramento), now ranked 6th , and Southern District of New York (Manhattan) at 3rd In the same order, these districts ranked 12th and 13th one year ago and 10th and 21st five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 69.2 percent — was Middle District of Florida (Tampa). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 238.5 percent — was Western District of Texas (San Antonio).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 69.8 percent — was Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn). But over the past five years, Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) showed the largest drop — 46.5 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 2016 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Rodriguez, Xavier Texas, W 23 1 - 140 More Bloom, Beth Francine Fla, S 4 2 17 - More Rayes, Douglas Leroy Arizona 3 3 53 - More Seeborg, Richard G. Cal, N 3 3 89 140 More Rosenberg, Robin Lee Fla, S 3 3 38 - More Blake, Catherine C. Maryland 3 3 - 140 More Moon, Norman K. Virg, W 3 3 164 - More Drozd, Dale A. Cal, E 2 8 - - More Scriven, Mary Stenson Fla, M 2 8 - 40 More Byron, Paul Gregory Fla, M 2 8 - - More Dimitrouleas, William P. Fla, S 2 8 27 - More Lenard, Joan A. Fla, S 2 8 12 - More Scola, Robert Nichols, Jr. Fla, S 2 8 27 - More Ross, Eleanor Louise Ga, N 2 8 89 - More Watson, Derrick Kahala Hawaii 2 8 164 - More DeGuilio, Jon Ernest Ind, N 2 8 164 - More Griesa, Thomas Poole N. Y., S 2 8 - 140 More Francis, James C. N. Y., S 2 8 - - More McCafferty, Landya B. New Hamp 2 8 164 - More Simon, Michael Howard Oregon 2 8 164 - More Goldberg, Mitchell S. Penn, E 2 8 - - More Caputo, A. Richard Penn, M 2 8 - - More O'Grady, Liam Virg, E 2 8 - 140 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 13 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 10 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 23 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Xavier Rodriguez in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 23 defendants in cases.
Judge Beth Francine Bloom in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 2nd with 4 defendants in cases.
Judges Douglas Leroy Rayes in the District of Arizona, Richard G. Seeborg in the Northern District of California (San Francisco), Robin Lee Rosenberg in the Southern District of Florida (Miami), Catherine C. Blake in the District of Maryland and Norman K. Moon in the Western District of Virginia (Roanoke) ranked 3rd with 3 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: June 10, 2016
