Prosecutions for July 2017
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during July 2017 the government reported 79 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 1.3 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 2017 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-7.3%). Prosecutions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are down 28.1 percent from levels reported in 2012.
The decrease 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 2017 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 39.2 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (34.2%), "Fraud-Bankruptcy" (5.1%), "Fraud-Other" (3.8%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.5%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (2.5%), "Fraud-Other Business" (2.5%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (2.5%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In July 2017, 1 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 21 U.S.C Section 846 involving "Attempt and conspiracy". This was the lead charge for 100 percent of all magistrate filings in July.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In July 2017, 78 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during July there were an additional 2 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 2017 referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 8 1 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 7 2 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 5 3 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 4 4 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 3 5 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 3 5 More 26 USC 7212 - Attempts to interfere with admin of tax laws 3 5 More 18 USC 152 - Concealment of assets; false oaths and claims; etc 2 8 More 18 USC 157 - Bankruptcy Fraud 2 8 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 2 8 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 2 8 More 26 USC 7202 - Willful failure to collect or pay over tax 2 8 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 "Attempt to evade or defeat tax" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201.
Ranked 3rd was "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 371.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In July 2017 the Justice Department said the government brought 29.9 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.
The Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) — with 6 prosecutions — was the most active during July 2017.
The Central District of California (Los Angeles), Northern District of California (San Francisco), Middle District of Florida (Tampa) and Middle District of Pennsylvania (Scranton) 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 2017 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Koh, Lucy Haeran Cal, N 5 1 More Sargus, Edmund A., Jr. Ohio, S 3 2 More Simon, Michael Howard Oregon 3 2 More Burgess, Timothy Mark Alaska 2 4 More Kovachevich, Elizabeth Anne Fla, M 2 4 More Cogburn, Max Oliver, Jr. N Car, W 2 4 More Spatt, Arthur Donald N. Y., E 2 4 More Watson, Michael H. Ohio, S 2 4 More Conrad, Glen Edward Virg, W 2 4 More Skavdahl, Scott Wesley Wyoming 2 4 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 7 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.
Judge Lucy Haeran Koh in the Northern District of California (San Francisco) ranked 1st with 5 defendants in cases.
Judges Edmund A. Sargus, Jr. in the Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) and Michael Howard Simon in the District of Oregon ranked 2nd with 3 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: August 31, 2017
