Convictions for January 2014
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2014 the government reported 121 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 1.7% 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 2014 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was up (14.9 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 25.7 percent from levels reported in 2009.
The increase 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 January 2014 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 51.2 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (14.9%), " Theft-Government Property" (5%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (4.1%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.3%), "Money Laundering-Other" (3.3%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (2.5%), "Fraud-Other" (2.5%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In January 2014, no 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.
Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In January 2014, 121 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during January 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 January.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions 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 20 1 1 1 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 18 2 2 2 More 18 USC 286 - Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims 8 3 4 10 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 7 4 7 7 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 6 5 5 5 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 6 5 - 20 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 5 7 16 20 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 4 8 6 4 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 4 8 11 11 More 18 USC 3583 - Term of supervised release after imprisonment 3 10 - - More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 3 10 9 6 More 31 USC 5324 - Structuring transactions to evade reporting requir 3 10 8 7 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 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 10 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions—up 310 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 that involves " Public money, property or records ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase—1950 %—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 23.1 percent—was Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions— 21.1 percent—was for convictions where the lead charge was " Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In January 2014 the Justice Department said the government obtained 46.3 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.
The Middle District of Florida (Tampa)—with 10 convictions—was the most active during January 2014.
The District of New Jersey and Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston) 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 resulting in convictions of this type during January 2014 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Solis, Jorge Antonio Texas, N 5 1 More Copenhaver, John Thomas, Jr. W Virg, S 5 1 More Thrash, Thomas W., Jr. Ga, N 3 3 More Pisano, Joel A. N. J. 3 3 More Conner, Christopher C. Penn, M 3 3 More Dominguez, Daniel R. Puer Rico 3 3 More Varlan, Thomas A. Tenn, E 3 3 More Sessions, William K., III Vermont 3 3 More Campbell, David G. Arizona 2 9 More Tucker, Josephine Staton Cal, C 2 9 More Burrell, Garland Ellis, Jr. Cal, E 2 9 More Bucklew, Susan C. Fla, M 2 9 More Corrigan, Timothy J. Fla, M 2 9 More Bourgeois, Richard L., Jr. La, M 2 9 More Magnuson, Paul Arthur Minnesota 2 9 More Osteen, William Lindsay, Jr. N Car, M 2 9 More Smith, George Curtis Ohio, S 2 9 More Rose, Thomas M. Ohio, S 2 9 More Davis, Mark Steven Virg, E 2 9 More Jones, Richard A. Wash, W 2 9 More Table 4: Top 10 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 convictions , while the remaining 7 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 20 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judges Jorge Antonio Solis in the Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth) and John Thomas Copenhaver, Jr. in the Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston) ranked 1st with 5 convicted in convictions.
Judges Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. in the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta), Joel A. Pisano in the District of New Jersey, Christopher C. Conner in the Middle District of Pennsylvania (Scranton), Daniel R. Dominguez in the District of Puerto Rico, Thomas A. Varlan in the Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville) and William K. Sessions, III in the District of Vermont ranked 3rd with 3 convicted in convictions.
Report Generated: March 17, 2014
