Prosecutions for July 2015

Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service

Number Latest Month 118
Percent Change from previous month -13.9
Percent Change from 1 year ago -0.5
Percent Change from 5 years ago
(Including Magistrate Court)
11.4
Percent Change from 5 years ago
(Excluding Magistrate Court)
8.4
Table 1. Criminal Prosecutions

The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during July 2015 the government reported 118 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 13.9 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 only slightly down (-0.5%). 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 11.4 percent from levels reported in 2010.

The growth in these cases is partly related to increases in the matters filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. If magistrate cases are excluded and only Federal District Court cases are counted, the overall increase in prosecutions is 8.4 percent instead of 11.4 percent. The evidence suggests that part of the difference may be the result of improvements in the recording of the magistrate cases by the Justice Department.

Bar and line plot of FYMON

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 July 2015 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 34.7 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (27.1%), " Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (8.5%), "Money Laundering-Other" (6.8%), "Fraud-Other" (5.9%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (3.4%), "Customs-Currency Violations" (2.5%), "Fraud-Securities" (2.5%). See Figure 2.

Pie chart of progcatlabel

Figure 2. Specific Types of Prosecutions

Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts

Top Ranked Lead Charges

In July 2015, 14 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 July the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1505 involving "Obstruction of proceedings before departments, etc". This was the lead charge for 28.6 percent of all magistrate filings in July.

Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts

In July 2015, 104 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during July 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 July.

Top Ranked Lead Charges

Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during July 2015 referred by the Internal Revenue Service.

Lead Charge Count Rank  
26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 14 1 More
18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 11 2 More
21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 10 3 More
26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 8 4 More
18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 7 5 More
26 USC 7202 - Willful failure to collect or pay over tax 5 6 More
18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 3 7 More
18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 3 7 More
18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 3 7 More
18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 3 7 More
31 USC 5324 - Structuring transactions to evade reporting requir 3 7 More
Table 2. Top Charges Filed

  • "Fraud and False statements" (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206) was the most frequent recorded lead charge.

  • Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 371.

  • Ranked 3rd was "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846.

Top Ranked Judicial Districts

In July 2015 the Justice Department said the government brought 42.1 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, S 12 1 More
Fla, S 6 2 More
Ind, S 6 2 More
N. Y., E 6 2 More
Fla, M 5 5 More
N. J. 5 5 More
Mich, E 4 7 More
Penn, W 4 7 More
Conn 3 9 More
Ken, E 3 9 More
Ohio, S 3 9 More
Texas, S 3 9 More
Table 3. Top 10 Districts

  • The Southern District of California (San Diego) — with 12 prosecutions — was the most active during July 2015.

  • The Southern District of Florida (Miami), Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis) and Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) 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 July 2015 are shown in Table 4.

Judge Count Rank  
Houston, John A. Cal, S 10 1 More
Barker, Sarah Evans Ind, S 4 2 More
Byron, Paul Gregory Fla, M 3 3 More
Murphy, Stephen Joseph, III Mich, E 3 3 More
Linares, Jose L. N. J. 3 3 More
Harmon, Melinda Texas, S 3 3 More
Hickey, Susan Owens Ark, W 2 7 More
Hurley, Daniel T. K. Fla, S 2 7 More
Lawrence, William T. Ind, S 2 7 More
Wexler, Leonard D. N. Y., E 2 7 More
Feuerstein, Sandra J. N. Y., E 2 7 More
Cohill, Maurice Blanchard, Jr. Penn, W 2 7 More
Trauger, Aleta Arthur Tenn, M 2 7 More
Jones, James Parker Virg, W 2 7 More
Table 4. Top Ten Judges

A total of 11 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 14 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)

  • Judge John A. Houston in the Southern District of California (San Diego) ranked 1st with 10 defendants in cases.

  • Judge Sarah Evans Barker in the Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis) ranked 2nd with 4 defendants in cases.

  • Judges Paul Gregory Byron in the Middle District of Florida (Tampa), Stephen Joseph Murphy, III in the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit), Jose L. Linares in the District of New Jersey and Melinda Harmon in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 3 defendants in cases.

Report Generated: September 9, 2015
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