Prosecutions for January 2015
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2015 the government reported 131 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 40.9 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 2015 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-15.8%). 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 28.5 percent from levels reported in 2010.
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 2015 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 54.2 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (16%), "Fraud-Other" (8.4 %), "Corruption(Govt Off)-Local" (6.1%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (3.8%), "Health and Safety Violations-Employees" (3.1%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In January 2015, 11 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 1028 involving "Fraud and related activity - id documents". This was the lead charge for 63.6 percent of all magistrate filings in January.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In January 2015, 120 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during January there were an additional 4 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 2015 referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 29 1 2 2 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 13 2 9 7 More 18 USC 286 - Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims 12 3 5 6 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 12 3 1 1 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 10 5 4 12 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 7 6 7 4 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 5 7 3 3 More 26 USC 7203 - Willful failure to file return, supply information 4 8 17 12 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 3 9 6 19 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 2 10 10 - More 18 USC 1028A - Aggravated Identity Theft 2 10 15 - 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 "Fraud by wire, radio, or television" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343. "Fraud by wire, radio, or television" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343 was ranked 9 a year ago, while it was ranked 7 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd were "Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 286 and "Attempt to evade or defeat tax" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201. "Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 286 was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 6 five years ago."Attempt to evade or defeat tax" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201 was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 f ive years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 18.2 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 26 U.S.C Section 7203 that involves " Willful failure to file return, supply information ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 1500 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 45.3 percent — was " Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 28.6 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Laundering of monetary instruments " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In January 2015 the Justice Department said the government brought 47.4 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 Penn, W 10 1 More Cal, N 9 2 More Ill, N 9 2 More N. J. 9 2 More Miss, S 7 5 More Ill, S 6 6 More Mo, W 5 7 More N. Y., E 5 7 More Mo, E 4 9 More Cal, E 3 10 More Fla, S 3 10 More Ind, N 3 10 More Mass 3 10 More N Car, E 3 10 More Ohio, S 3 10 More Texas, S 3 10 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts
The Western District of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) — with 10 prosecutions — was the most active during January 2015.
The Northern District of California (San Francisco), Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) and District of New Jersey 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 2015 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Cercone, David S. Penn, W 10 1 More Kapala, Frederick J. Ill, N 8 2 More Illston, Susan Yvonne Cal, N 5 3 More Rosenstengel, Nancy Jo Ill, S 5 3 More Reeves, Carlton Wayne Miss, S 5 3 More McNulty, Kevin Charles N. J. 5 3 More Wimes, Brian Curtis Mo, W 4 7 More Ishii, Anthony W. Cal, E 2 8 More White, Jeffrey Steven Cal, N 2 8 More Tigar, Jon Steven Cal, N 2 8 More Bell, Robert Holmes Mich, W 2 8 More Wingate, Henry Travillion Miss, S 2 8 More Morris, Brian Matthew Montana 2 8 More Arcara, Richard Joseph N. Y., W 2 8 More Harmon, Melinda Texas, S 2 8 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 12 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings , while the remaining 3 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 15 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge David S. Cercone in the Western District of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) ranked 1st with 10 defendants in cases.
Judge Frederick J. Kapala in the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) ranked 2nd with 8 defendants in cases.
Judges Susan Yvonne Illston in the Northern District of California (San Francisco), Nancy Jo Rosenstengel in the Southern District of Illinois (East St. Louis), Carlton Wayne Reeves in the Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson) and Kevin Charles McNulty in th e District of New Jersey ranked 3rd with 5 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: March 9, 2015
