Prosecutions for March 2018
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2018 the government reported 90 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 21.6 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 2018 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-30.4%). 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 60 percent from levels reported in 2013.
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 March 2018 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 55.6 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (11.1%), "Fraud-Other" (7.8%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (6.7%), "Money Laundering-Other" (3.3%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-Fed Program" (2.2%), "Fraud-Federal Program" (2.2%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (2.2%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In March 2018, 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 March the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206 involving "Fraud and False statements". This was the lead charge for 100 percent of all magistrate filings in March.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In March 2018, 89 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during March there were an additional 14 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 2018 referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 26 1 1 2 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 13 2 2 3 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 6 3 5 5 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 6 3 6 1 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 5 5 3 10 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 5 5 11 17 More 31 USC 5324 - Structuring transactions to evade reporting requir 5 5 16 9 More 26 USC 7202 - Willful failure to collect or pay over tax 3 8 18 12 More 18 USC 286 - Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims 2 9 7 4 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 1 10 4 6 More 18 USC 514 - Fictitious Obligations 1 10 - - More 18 USC 554 - Smuggling goods from the United States 1 10 - - More 18 USC 1028A - Aggravated Identity Theft 1 10 20 15 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 1 10 13 11 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 1 10 14 19 More 18 USC 1505 - Obstruction of proceedings before departments, etc 1 10 - - More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 1 10 10 7 More 18 USC 1961 - RICO - definitions 1 10 - - More 26 USC 7203 - Willful failure to file return, supply information 1 10 24 13 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 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 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd were "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 and "Public money, property or records" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 641. "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 five years ago."Public money, property or records" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 was ranked 6 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 80 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 26 U.S.C Section 7202 that involves " Willful failure to collect or pay over tax ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 14.3 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Bank Fraud " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 69.4 percent — was " False, fictitious or fraudulent claims " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 287 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 90 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Public money, property or records " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In March 2018 the Justice Department said the government brought 38.3 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 11 prosecutions — was the most active during March 2018.
The Central District of California (Los Angeles) ranked 2nd.
District of Massachusetts is 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 2018 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Marbley, Algenon L. Ohio, S 8 1 More Mastroianni, Mark Gerald Mass 5 2 More Thompson, Myron Herbert Ala, M 2 3 More Drozd, Dale A. Cal, E 2 3 More Whelan, Thomas J. Cal, S 2 3 More Moreno, Federico A. Fla, S 2 3 More Altonaga, Cecilia M. Fla, S 2 3 More May, Leigh Martin Ga, N 2 3 More Bianco, Joseph Frank N. Y., E 2 3 More Scullin, Frederick James, Jr. N. Y., N 2 3 More Brody, Anita Blumstein Penn, E 2 3 More Beetlestone, Wendy Penn, E 2 3 More Means, Terry R. Texas, N 2 3 More Davis, Mark Steven Virg, E 2 3 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 4 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 14 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Algenon L. Marbley in the Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) ranked 1st with 8 defendants in cases.
Judge Mark Gerald Mastroianni in the District of Massachusetts ranked 2nd with 5 defendants in cases.
Judges Myron Herbert Thompson in the Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery), Dale A. Drozd in the Eastern District of California (Sacramento), Thomas J. Whelan in the Southern District of California (San Diego), Federico A. Moreno in the Southern District of Florida (Miami), Cecilia M. Altonaga in the Southern District of Florida (Miami), Leigh Martin May in the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta), Joseph Frank Bianco in the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn), Frederick James Scullin, Jr. in t ranked 3rd with 2 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: April 26, 2018
