Prosecutions for March 2016
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2016 the government reported 136 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 22.5 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 2016 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-8.3%). 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 5.2 percent from levels reported in 2011.
The leveling out 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 decrease in prosecutions is 4.1 percent instead of 5.2 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.
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. 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 March 2016 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 41.2 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (25%), "Fraud-Other" (8.1%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (4.4%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.7%), "Money Laundering-Other" (3.7%), "Money Laundering-Drug" (2.9%), "Theft-Government Property" (2.9%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In March 2016, 7 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 March the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1029 involving "Fraud and related activity - access devices". This was the lead charge for 42.9 percent of all magistrate filings in March.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In March 2016, 129 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during March there were an additional 3 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 March.
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 2016 referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 21 1 1 1 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 11 2 8 4 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 10 3 4 6 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 9 4 5 26 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 6 5 7 5 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 6 5 2 2 More 18 USC 286 - Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims 5 7 3 7 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 5 7 16 8 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 3 9 6 3 More 26 USC 7202 - Willful failure to collect or pay over tax 3 9 11 15 More 26 USC 7203 - Willful failure to file return, supply information 3 9 16 8 More 31 USC 5324 - Structuring transactions to evade reporting requir 3 9 11 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. "Fraud and False statements" (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 371. "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 was ranked 8 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five 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 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 6 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 37 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 that involves " Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 3500 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 83.8 percent — was " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 89.1 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In March 2016 the Justice Department said the government brought 49.7 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 Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) — with 12 prosecutions — was the most active during March 2016.
The Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 2nd.
Middle District of North Carolina (Greensboro), Western District of Texas (San Antonio) and Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria) 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 of this type during March 2016 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Steeh, George Caram, III Mich, E 9 1 More Cooke, Marcia G. Fla, S 5 2 More Thrash, Thomas W., Jr. Ga, N 3 3 More Burrell, Garland Ellis, Jr. Cal, E 2 4 More Kovachevich, Elizabeth Anne Fla, M 2 4 More Shadid, James Edward Ill, C 2 4 More St. Eve, Amy J. Ill, N 2 4 More Herndon, David R. Ill, S 2 4 More Mastroianni, Mark Gerald Mass 2 4 More Borman, Paul D. Mich, E 2 4 More Bramlette, David C., III Miss, S 2 4 More Starrett, Keith Miss, S 2 4 More Phillips, Mary Elizabeth Mo, W 2 4 More Flanagan, Louise W. N Car, E 2 4 More Hillman, Noel Lawrence N. J. 2 4 More Caproni, Valerie Elaine N. Y., S 2 4 More Jones, C. Darnell, II Penn, E 2 4 More Caldwell, William W. Penn, M 2 4 More McVerry, Terrence F. Penn, W 2 4 More Greer, J. Ronnie Tenn, E 2 4 More Campbell, Todd J. Tenn, M 2 4 More Moses, Alia Texas, W 2 4 More Doumar, Robert George Virg, E 2 4 More Table 4. Top Ten 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 filings , while the remaining 13 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 23 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge George Caram Steeh, III in the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) ranked 1st with 9 defendants in cases.
Judge Marcia G. Cooke in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 2nd with 5 defendants in cases.
Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. in the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta) ranked 3rd with 3 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: May 3, 2016
