Prosecutions for January 2014

Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service

Number Latest Month 143
Percent Change from previous month 58.9
Percent Change from 1 year ago -9.4
Percent Change from 5 years ago (Including Magistrate Court) 55.4
Percent Change from 5 years ago (Excluding Magistrate Court) 51.1
Table 1: Criminal Prosecutions

The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2014 the government reported 143 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 58.9% 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 (-9.4 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 55.4 percent from levels reported in 2009.

Plot of _FREQ_ by FYMONDT

Figure 1: Monthly trends in prosecutions

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 January 2014 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 50.3 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (16.1%), " Fraud-Financial Institution" (7.7%), "Fraud-Other" (4.2%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3.5%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (2.8%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (2.8%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.1%). See Figure 2.

Pie chart of progcatlabel

Figure 2: Specific types of prosecutions

Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts

Top Ranked Lead Charges

In January 2014, 13 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 January the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 involving the "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US". This was the lead charge for 23.1 percent of all magistrate filings in January.

Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts

In January 2014, 130 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during January there were an additional 6 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 January.

Top Ranked Lead Charges

Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during January 2014referred by the Internal Revenue Service.

Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago  
26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 27 1 2 2 More
18 USC 286 - Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims 21 2 5 8 More
26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 11 3 3 1 More
18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 7 4 19 16 More
18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 7 4 7 3 More
18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 6 6 4 6 More
31 USC 5324 - Structuring transactions to evade reporting requir 5 7 11 9 More
26 USC 7202 - Willful failure to collect or pay over tax 4 8 9 12 More
18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 3 9 6 4 More
18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 3 9 1 27 More
18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 3 9 9 5 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 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.

  • Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "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 8 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 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.

Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 37 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 that involves " Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—3200 percent—was registered for prosecutions 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 prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 68.9 percent—was Public money, property or records (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 44 percent—was for filings where the lead charge was " Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 ).

Top Ranked Judicial Districts

In January 2014 the Justice Department said the government brought 52 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  
Cal, C 11 1 More
Minnesota 7 2 More
Ohio, N 7 2 More
Penn, E 7 2 More
Conn 6 5 More
Ala, N 5 6 More
Mich, E 5 6 More
Nevada 5 6 More
Ohio, S 5 6 More
Cal, E 4 10 More
Miss, S 4 10 More
N. J. 4 10 More
Table 3: Top 10 districts

  • The Central District of California (Los Angeles)—with 11 prosecutions—was the most active during January 2014.

  • The District of Minnesota, Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland) and Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) ranked 2nd.

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 January 2014 are shown in Table 4.

Judge Count Rank  
Underhill, Stefan R. Conn 6 1 More
Berg, Terrence George Mich, E 5 2 More
Jones, Robert Clive Nevada 4 3 More
Bartle, Harvey, III Penn, E 4 3 More
Bowdre, Karon O. Ala, N 3 5 More
England, Morrison C., Jr. Cal, E 3 5 More
Walker, Mark Eaton Fla, N 3 5 More
Springmann, Theresa Lazar Ind, N 3 5 More
Frank, Donovan W. Minnesota 3 5 More
Reeves, Carlton Wayne Miss, S 3 5 More
Zouhary, Jack Ohio, N 3 5 More
Watson, Michael H. Ohio, S 3 5 More
Table 4: Top 10 judges

A total of 10 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings , while the remaining 2 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 12 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)

  • Judge Stefan R. Underhill in the District of Connecticut ranked 1st with 6 defendants in cases.

  • Judge Terrence George Berg in the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) ranked 2nd with 5 defendants in cases.

  • Judges Robert Clive Jones in the District of Nevada and Harvey Bartle, III in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) ranked 3rd with 4 defendants in cases.

Report Generated: March 17, 2014
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