Prosecutions for March 2008
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2008 the government reported 123 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 39.8% 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 2008 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was only slightlyup (1.7 percent). 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 5.6 percent from levels reported in 2003.
The leveling out 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. 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 March 2008 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 48.8 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Consumer" (13%), "Fraud-Other Investment" (7.3%), " Money Laundering-Other" (5.7%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.3%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3.3%), "Other-Not Specified" (3.3%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (3.3%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-Other" (2.4%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In March 2008, 7 percent of cases for these matters took place in U.S. Magistrate Courts which handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In the magistrate courts in March the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1001 involving the "Fraud/false statements or entries generally". This was the lead charge for 33.3 percent of all magistrate filings in March.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during March 2008referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 34 1 3 4 More 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 25 2 1 1 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 18 3 2 2 More 31 USC 5324 - Structuring transactions to evade reporting requir 5 4 9 14 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 3 5 5 5 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 2 6 7 8 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 2 6 26 32 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 2 6 - 16 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 2 6 6 3 More 18 USC 6003 - Court and Grand Jury Proceedings 2 6 - - More 26 USC 7203 - Willful failure to file return, supply information 2 6 8 9 More
Table 2: Top charges filed
"Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was the 4 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 "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 the 2 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 72.7 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 31 U.S.C Section 5324 that involves " Structuring transactions to evade reporting requir ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase—216.7 %—when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 76.9 percent—was Attempt and conspiracy (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease— 83.3 %—when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In March 2008 the Justice Department said the government brought 45.7 prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita 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 per capita for these matters last month are shown in Table 3. Districts must have at least 5 prosecutions to receive a ranking.
The Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston)—with 644 prosecutions as compared with 45.7 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during March 2008.
The Eastern District of California (Sacramento) ranked 2nd.
District of Connecticut is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of California (Sacramento), now ranked 2nd , and Southern District of New York (Manhattan) at 6th In the same order, these districts ranked 12th and 18th one year ago and 7th and 14th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 450 percent—was Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 360 percent—was Minnesota .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions— 55.6 percent—was Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia). But over the past five years, Southern District of New York (Manhattan) showed the largest drop— 21.4 percent.
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 March 2008 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Damrell, Frank C. Jr. Cal, E 16 1 More Karlton, Lawrence K. Cal, E 7 2 More Copenhaver, John Thomas Jr. W Virg, S 5 3 More Larimer, David G. N. Y., W 4 4 More Zloch, William J. Fla, S 3 5 More Mosman, Michael W. Oregon 3 5 More Dorsey, Peter Collins Conn 2 7 More Forester, Karl Spillman Ken, E 2 7 More Ross, Allyne R. N. Y., E 2 7 More Feuerstein, Sandra J. N. Y., E 2 7 More Robinson, Stephen C. N. Y., S 2 7 More Haggerty, Ancer Lee Oregon 2 7 More Schiller, Berle M. Penn, E 2 7 More Cercone, David S. Penn, W 2 7 More Lindsay, Sam A. Texas, N 2 7 More Biery, Samuel Frederick Jr. Texas, W 2 7 More
Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 8 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings per capita, while the remaining 8 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 16 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. in the Eastern District of California (Sacramento) ranked 1st with 16 defendants in cases.
Judge Lawrence K. Karlton in the Eastern District of California (Sacramento) ranked 2nd with 7 defendants in cases.
Judge John Thomas Copenhaver Jr. in the Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston) ranked 3rd with 5 defendants in cases.
