Convictions for August 2012
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during August 2012 the government reported 114 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 up 25.3% 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 2012 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was down (-4.1 percent). 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 5.3 percent from levels reported in 2007.
The leveling out 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 August 2012 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 56.1 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (8.8%), " Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (7%), "Fraud-Other" (6.1%), "Money Laundering-Other" (4.4%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3.5%), "Fraud-Mortgage" (2.6%), "Theft-Interstate" (2.6%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In August 2012, 2 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 August the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1544 involving the "Misuse of passport". This was the lead charge for 50 percent of all magistrate convictions in August.
Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In August 2012, 112 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during August 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 August.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during August 2012referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 24 1 1 1 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 14 2 2 2 More 18 USC 286 - Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims 13 3 5 4 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 9 4 3 8 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 8 5 4 5 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 7 6 5 3 More 18 USC 1957 - Monetary transactions w/property from unlawful act 4 7 20 21 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 3 8 10 10 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 3 8 14 15 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 3 8 11 7 More 31 USC 5324 - Structuring transactions to evade reporting requir 3 8 7 13 More Table 2: Top charges for convictions
"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 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.
Ranked 3rd was "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 5 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 200 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1957 that involves " Monetary transactions w/property from unlawful act ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase—350 %—when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago—down 32.2 percent—was Attempt to evade or defeat tax (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions— 46.4 percent—was for convictions where the lead charge was " Laundering of monetary instruments " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In August 2012 the Justice Department said the government obtained 43.8 convictions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the number of convictions in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of convictions of this type last month are shown in Table 3.
Judicial District Count Rank Ohio, S 10 1 More Ala, M 9 2 More Ill, N 8 3 More Fla, M 6 4 More Arizona 5 5 More S Car 5 5 More Mich, W 4 7 More Mo, W 4 7 More Texas, W 4 7 More Cal, E 3 10 More Cal, N 3 10 More Fla, N 3 10 More Ill, C 3 10 More Puer Rico 3 10 More Utah 3 10 More Table 3: Top 10 districts
The Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati)—with 10 convictions—was the most active during August 2012.
The Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery) ranked 2nd.
Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) is now ranking 3rd.
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 August 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Fuller, Mark E. Ala, M 8 1 More Black, Timothy Seymour Ohio, S 5 2 More Moody, James S., Jr. Fla, M 4 3 More Chesney, Maxine M. Cal, N 3 4 More Hinkle, Robert Lewis Fla, N 3 4 More Jonker, Robert James Mich, W 3 4 More Waddoups, Clark Utah 3 4 More Silver, Roslyn O. Arizona 2 8 More Wake, Neil Vincent Arizona 2 8 More Ishii, Anthony W. Cal, E 2 8 More McCuskey, Michael Patrick Ill, C 2 8 More Nolan, Nan R. Ill, N 2 8 More Wimes, Brian Curtis Mo, W 2 8 More Marbley, Algenon L. Ohio, S 2 8 More Weber, Herman Jacob Ohio, S 2 8 More Garcia-Gregory, Jay A. Puer Rico 2 8 More Anderson, George Ross, Jr. S Car 2 8 More Seymour, Margaret B. S Car 2 8 More Greer, J. Ronnie Tenn, E 2 8 More Garcia, Orlando Luis Texas, W 2 8 More Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 19 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of convictions , while the remaining 1 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 20 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Mark E. Fuller in the Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery) ranked 1st with 8 convicted in convictions.
Judge Timothy Seymour Black in the Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) ranked 2nd with 5 convicted in convictions.
Judge James S. Moody, Jr. in the Middle District of Florida (Tampa) ranked 3rd with 4 convicted in convictions.
Report Generated: November 19, 2012
