Prosecutions for May 2015
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during May 2015 the government reported 113 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 51.1 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 2015 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-5.6%). Prosecutions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are up 15.1 percent from levels reported in 2010.
The increase 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 May 2015 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 37.2 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (35.4%), "Fraud-Other" (5.3%) , "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (5.3%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (3.5%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (2.7%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In May 2015, 8 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 May the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 287 involving "False, fictitious or fraudulent claims". This was the lead charge for 25 percent of all magistrate filings in May.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In May 2015, 105 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during May there were an additional 13 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 May.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during May 2015 referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 17 1 More 18 USC 286 - Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims 8 2 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 7 3 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 6 4 More 18 USC 1028A - Aggravated Identity Theft 5 5 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 5 5 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 4 7 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 3 8 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 3 8 More 31 USC 5324 - Structuring transactions to evade reporting requir 3 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 "Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 286.
Ranked 3rd was "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 371.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In May 2015 the Justice Department said the government brought 45.1 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 Florida (Miami) — with 13 prosecutions — was the most active during May 2015.
The Middle District of Florida (Tampa) ranked 2nd.
Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) and District of Oregon 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 May 2015 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Howard, Marcia Morales Fla, M 8 1 More Aiken, Ann L. Oregon 5 2 More Trauger, Aleta Arthur Tenn, M 4 3 More Cooke, Marcia G. Fla, S 3 4 More Batten, Timothy C., Sr. Ga, N 3 4 More O'Meara, John Corbett Mich, E 3 4 More Arcara, Richard Joseph N. Y., W 3 4 More King, Garr M. Oregon 3 4 More Hurley, Daniel T. K. Fla, S 2 9 More Cohn, James I. Fla, S 2 9 More Scola, Robert Nichols, Jr. Fla, S 2 9 More Der-Yeghiayan, Samuel Ill, N 2 9 More Arleo, Madeline C. N. J. 2 9 More Smith, Edward George Penn, E 2 9 More Crone, Marcia A. Texas, E 2 9 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 11 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 15 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Marcia Morales Howard in the Middle District of Florida (Tampa) ranked 1st with 8 defendants in cases.
Judge Ann L. Aiken in the District of Oregon ranked 2nd with 5 defendants in cases.
Judge Aleta Arthur Trauger in the Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville) ranked 3rd with 4 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: June 24, 2015
