Prosecutions for August 2014
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during August 2014 the government reported 106 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 15.2 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 (-4.3%). 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 25 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 August 2014 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 40.6 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (29.2%), " Fraud-Federal Program" (6.6%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (6.6%), "Money Laundering-Other" (4.7%), "Fraud-Other" (2.8%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In August 2014, 10 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 641 involving "Public money, property or records". This was the lead charge for 40 percent of all magistrate filings in August.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In August 2014, 96 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during August there were an additional 3 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 prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during August 2014 referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 11 1 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 9 2 More 18 USC 286 - Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims 7 3 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 6 4 More 31 USC 5324 - Structuring transactions to evade reporting requir 5 5 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 4 6 More 26 USC 7203 - Willful failure to file return, supply information 4 6 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 3 8 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 2 9 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 2 9 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 2 9 More 26 USC 6050 - Information concerning transactions with others 2 9 More 26 USC 7202 - Willful failure to collect or pay over tax 2 9 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Fraud and False statements" (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206) was the most frequent recorded lead charge.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "False, fictitious or fraudulent claims" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 287.
Ranked 3rd was "Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 286.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In August 2014 the Justice Department said the government brought 37.8 prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the 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 of this type last month are shown in Table 3.
Judicial District Count Rank Ill, N 13 1 More Mich, E 8 2 More Minnesota 6 3 More Fla, S 5 4 More N. J. 5 4 More Penn, W 5 4 More N. Y., E 4 7 More N. Y., S 4 7 More Cal, C 3 9 More Ind, N 3 9 More Ind, S 3 9 More Mass 3 9 More Ohio, S 3 9 More Tenn, M 3 9 More Texas, N 3 9 More Texas, W 3 9 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts
The Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) — with 13 prosecutions — was the most active during August 2014.
The Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) ranked 2nd.
District of Minnesota 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 of this type during August 2014 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Shadur, Milton Irving Ill, N 5 1 More Lenard, Joan A. Fla, S 2 2 More Altonaga, Cecilia M. Fla, S 2 2 More Kennelly, Matthew F. Ill, N 2 2 More Chang, Edmond E-Min Ill, N 2 2 More Barker, Sarah Evans Ind, S 2 2 More Hornby, David Brock Maine 2 2 More Saylor, F. Dennis, IV Mass 2 2 More O'Meara, John Corbett Mich, E 2 2 More Cox, Sean Francis Mich, E 2 2 More Doty, David Singleton Minnesota 2 2 More Schiltz, Patrick Joseph Minnesota 2 2 More Simandle, Jerome B. N. J. 2 2 More Sargus, Edmund A., Jr. Ohio, S 2 2 More Diamond, Gustave Penn, W 2 2 More Cercone, David S. Penn, W 2 2 More Haynes, William Joseph, Jr. Tenn, M 2 2 More Boyle, Jane J. Texas, N 2 2 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 2 2 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 18 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings , while the remaining 1 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 19 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Milton Irving Shadur in the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) ranked 1st with 5 defendants in cases.
Judges Joan A. Lenard in the Southern District of Florida (Miami), Cecilia M. Altonaga in the Southern District of Florida (Miami), Matthew F. Kennelly in the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago), Edmond E-Min Chang in the Northern District of Illinois (Chicag o), Sarah Evans Barker in the Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis), David Brock Hornby in the District of Maine, F. Dennis Saylor, IV in the District of Massachusetts, John Corbett O'Meara in the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit), S ranked 2nd with 2 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: October 6, 2014
