Convictions for March 2016
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2016 the government reported 195 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 up 71.1 percent 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 2016 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was only slightly up (1.3%). 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 24.1 percent from levels reported in 2011.
The increase 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 March 2016 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 55.4 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (10.3%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (5.6%), "Money Laundering-Other" (5.6%), "Fraud-Other" (3.6%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.1%), "Fraud-Bankruptcy" (2.1%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (2.1%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In March 2016, no 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 March 2016, 195 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during March 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 March.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions 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 46 1 1 2 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 28 2 3 1 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 11 3 6 3 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 10 4 8 8 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 9 5 4 5 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 8 6 12 18 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 8 6 23 13 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 8 6 14 14 More 31 USC 5324 - Structuring transactions to evade reporting requir 8 6 9 9 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 7 10 5 4 More Table 2. Top Charges for Convictions
"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 2 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "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 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "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 6 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions — up 175 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 — 500 percent — was registered for convictions under " Fraud and related activity - id documents " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago — down 33.3 percent — was " Laundering of monetary instruments " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 46.3 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In March 2016 the Justice Department said the government obtained 73.4 convictions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of convictions in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of convictions per capita for these matters last month are shown in Table 3. Districts must have at least 5 convictions to receive a ranking.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Mo, W 613 16 1 13 23 More Fla, S 505 30 2 1 31 More Conn 300 9 3 19 21 More N Car, W 269 7 4 44 36 More Cal, S 209 6 5 40 15 More Cal, E 198 13 6 13 12 More Texas, W 158 9 7 10 15 More Colorado 112 5 8 33 36 More Mich, E 93 5 9 16 13 More Ill, N 64 5 10 13 13 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) — with 613 convictions as compared with 73.4 convictions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during March 2016.
The Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 2nd. The Southern District of Florida (Miami) was ranked 1 a year ago.
District of Connecticut is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Western District of Missouri (Kansas City), now ranked 1st , and Eastern District of California (Sacramento) at 6th In the same order, these districts ranked 13th and 13th one year ago and 23rd and 12th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago — 233.3 percent — was Western District of North Carolina (Asheville). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 675 percent — was Southern District of Florida (Miami).
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 March 2016 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Wimes, Brian Curtis Mo, W 13 1 More Yeakel, Earl Leroy, III Texas, W 7 2 More Ishii, Anthony W. Cal, E 6 3 More Dimitrouleas, William P. Fla, S 5 4 More Cogburn, Max Oliver, Jr. N Car, W 5 4 More Zloch, William J. Fla, S 4 6 More Cohn, James I. Fla, S 4 6 More Bloom, Beth Francine Fla, S 4 6 More Lenard, Joan A. Fla, S 3 9 More Scola, Robert Nichols, Jr. Fla, S 3 9 More Jones, Robert Edward Oregon 3 9 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 convictions per capita, while the remaining 1 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Brian Curtis Wimes in the Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) ranked 1st with 13 convicted in convictions.
Judge Earl Leroy Yeakel, III in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 7 convicted in convictions.
Judge Anthony W. Ishii in the Eastern District of California (Sacramento) ranked 3rd with 6 convicted in convictions.
Report Generated: May 3, 2016
