Prosecutions for February 2012
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2012 the government reported 111 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 down 16.5% 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 2012 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (2.1 percent). 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 39.7 percent from levels reported in 2007.
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 February 2012 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 45 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (32.4%), " Fraud-Financial Institution" (4.5%), "Fraud-Other" (3.6%), "Government Property-Crimes Against" (3.6%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (2.7%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In February 2012, 3 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 February the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326 involving the "Reentry of deported alien". This was the lead charge for 33.3 percent of all magistrate filings in February.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In February 2012, 108 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during February there were an additional 1 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 February.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during February 2012referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 15 1 More 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 12 2 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 10 3 More 18 USC 286 - Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims 6 4 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 5 5 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 4 6 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 3 7 More 26 USC 7212 - Attempts to interfere with admin of tax laws 3 7 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 2 9 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 2 9 More 18 USC 1957 - Monetary transactions w/property from unlawful act 2 9 More 26 USC 7203 - Willful failure to file return, supply information 2 9 More Table 2: Top charges filed
"Attempt to evade or defeat tax" (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201) was the most frequent recorded lead charge.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Fraud and False statements" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206.
Ranked 3rd was "False, fictitious or fraudulent claims" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 287.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In February 2012 the Justice Department said the government brought 42.6 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.
The Western District of Missouri (Kansas City)—with 10 prosecutions—was the most active during February 2012.
The District of Maryland ranked 2nd.
Southern District of Florida (Miami) and Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) are 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 February 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Laughrey, Nanette Kay Mo, W 9 1 More Blake, Catherine C. Maryland 5 2 More Smith, Walter Scott, Jr. Texas, W 5 2 More Mueller, Kimberly Jo Cal, E 3 4 More King, James Lawrence Fla, S 3 4 More Black, Bruce D. N Mexico 3 4 More Scriven, Mary Stenson Fla, M 2 7 More Hinkle, Robert Lewis Fla, N 2 7 More Tydingco-Gatewood, Frances M. Guam 2 7 More Der-Yeghiayan, Samuel Ill, N 2 7 More Reagan, Michael Joseph Ill, S 2 7 More Gossett, F.A. Nebraska 2 7 More Adams, John R. Ohio, N 2 7 More Black, Timothy Seymour Ohio, S 2 7 More Kane, Yvette Penn, M 2 7 More Cummings, Samuel Ray Texas, N 2 7 More Benson, Dee Vance Utah 2 7 More Jones, James Parker Virg, W 2 7 More Settle, Benjamin Hale Wash, W 2 7 More Table 4: Top 10 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 filings , while the remaining 11 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 19 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Nanette Kay Laughrey in the Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) ranked 1st with 9 defendants in cases.
Judges Catherine C. Blake in the District of Maryland and Walter Scott Smith, Jr. in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 5 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: May 8, 2012
