Convictions for July 2009
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during July 2009 the government reported 93 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 down 4.1% 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 2009 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was only slightlydown (-1.6 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 3 percent from levels reported in 2004.
The leveling out 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 July 2009 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 58.1 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (12.9%), " Money Laundering-Other" (5.4%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (3.2%), "Fraud-Health Care" (3.2%), "Fraud-Other" (3.2%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3.2%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In July 2009, n 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 July 2009, 93 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during July 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 July.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during July 2009referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 22 1 2 2 More 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 12 2 1 1 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 9 3 5 7 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 6 4 4 3 More 31 USC 5324 - Structuring transactions to evade reporting requir 5 5 5 13 More 18 USC 286 - Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims 4 6 8 6 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 4 6 7 8 More 26 USC 7202 - Willful failure to collect or pay over tax 3 8 14 11 More 18 USC 152 - Concealment of assets; false oaths and claims; etc 2 9 25 28 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 2 9 3 4 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 2 9 11 15 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention + Control-Prohibited acts A 2 9 25 14 More
Table 2: Top charges for convictions
"Attempt to evade or defeat tax" (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Attempt to evade or defeat tax" (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was the 2 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Fraud and False statements" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206. "Fraud and False statements" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206 was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was the 1 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Ranked 3rd was "False, fictitious or fraudulent claims" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 287. "False, fictitious or fraudulent claims" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 287 was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was the 7 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions—up 450 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 that involves " Drug Abuse Prevention + Control-Prohibited acts A ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—300 percent—was registered for convictions under " Concealment of assets; false oaths and claims; etc " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 152 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago—down 46.7 percent—was Fraud by wire, radio, or television (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions— 22.7 percent—was for convictions where the lead charge was " Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In July 2009 the Justice Department said the government obtained 37.4 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 District of Maryland and Western District of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh)—with 6 convictions—were the most active during July 2009.
Middle District of Florida (Tampa), Southern District of Florida (Miami), Middle District of Georgia (Macon), District of Massachusetts and Western District of Texas (San Antonio) 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 resulting in convictions of this type during July 2009 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Titus, Roger W. Maryland 5 1 More Royal, C. Ashley Ga, M 4 2 More Winmill, B. Lynn Idaho 3 3 More Scullin, Frederick James Jr. N. Y., N 3 3 More Conti, Joy Flowers Penn, W 3 3 More Arguello, Christine M. Colorado 2 6 More Lenard, Joan A. Fla, S 2 6 More Zloch, William J. Fla, S 2 6 More Arcara, Richard Joseph N. Y., W 2 6 More Frost, Gregory L. Ohio, S 2 6 More McVerry, Terrence F. Penn, W 2 6 More Yeakel, Earl Leroy III Texas, W 2 6 More Leighton, Ronald B. Wash, W 2 6 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 convictions , while the remaining 3 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 13 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Roger W. Titus in the District of Maryland ranked 1st with 5 convicted in convictions.
Judge C. Ashley Royal in the Middle District of Georgia (Macon) ranked 2nd with 4 convicted in convictions.
Judges B. Lynn Winmill in the District of Idaho, Frederick James Scullin Jr. in the Northern District of New York (Syracuse) and Joy Flowers Conti in the Western District of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) ranked 3rd with 3 convicted in convictions.
