Prosecutions for November 2015
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during November 2015 the government reported 139 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 11.2 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 up (3%). 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 0.4 percent from levels reported in 2010.
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 November 2015 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 37.4 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (33.1%), " Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (10.8%), "Money Laundering-Other" (4.3%), "Money Laundering-Drug" (2.2%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In November 2015, 6 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 November the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326 involving "Reentry of deported alien". This was the lead charge for 16.7 percent of all magistrate filings in November.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In November 2015, 133 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during November there were an additional 4 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 November.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during November 2015 referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 18 1 More 18 USC 1028A - Aggravated Identity Theft 11 2 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 10 3 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 8 4 More 18 USC 286 - Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims 6 5 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 6 5 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 5 7 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 4 8 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 3 9 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 3 9 More 18 USC 1955 - Prohibition of illegal gambling businesses 3 9 More 31 USC 5324 - Structuring transactions to evade reporting requir 3 9 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 "Aggravated Identity Theft" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028.
Ranked 3rd was "Attempt to evade or defeat tax" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In November 2015 the Justice Department said the government brought 51.6 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 Northern District of Florida (Pensacola) — with 929 prosecutions as compared with 51.6 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during November 2015.
The Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 2nd. The Southern District of Florida (Miami) was ranked 1 a year ago.
Northern District of Indiana (South Bend) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Northern District of California (San Francisco), now ranked 4th , and Central District of California (Los Angeles) at 5th In the same order, these districts ranked 14th and 17th one year ago and 13th and 7th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 100 percent — was Northern District of California (San Francisco). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 685.7 percent — was Southern District of Florida (Miami).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 20 percent — was Northern District of Indiana (South Bend). But over the past five years, showed the largest drop — 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 November 2015 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Walker, Mark Eaton Fla, N 14 1 More White, Jeffrey Steven Cal, N 11 2 More Gayles, Darrin Phillip Fla, S 5 3 More Huvelle, Ellen Segal D. C. 3 4 More Zloch, William J. Fla, S 3 4 More Land, Clay D. Ga, M 3 4 More Cohen, Mark Howard Ga, N 3 4 More Springmann, Theresa Lazar Ind, N 3 4 More Heaton, Joe L. Okla, W 3 4 More Steele, William H. Ala, S 2 10 More Chatigny, Robert N. Conn 2 10 More Moore, Kevin Michael Fla, S 2 10 More Moreno, Federico A. Fla, S 2 10 More Cohn, James I. Fla, S 2 10 More DeGuilio, Jon Ernest Ind, N 2 10 More Crabtree, Daniel Dale Kansas 2 10 More Berrigan, Helen Ginger La, E 2 10 More Jonker, Robert James Mich, W 2 10 More Cogburn, Max Oliver, Jr. N Car, W 2 10 More Arleo, Madeline C. N. J. 2 10 More Geraci, Frank Paul, Jr. N. Y., W 2 10 More Brown, Anna J. Oregon 2 10 More Jones, C. Darnell, II Penn, E 2 10 More Boyle, Jane J. Texas, N 2 10 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 9 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 15 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 24 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Mark Eaton Walker in the Northern District of Florida (Pensacola) ranked 1st with 14 defendants in cases.
Judge Jeffrey Steven White in the Northern District of California (San Francisco) ranked 2nd with 11 defendants in cases.
Judge Darrin Phillip Gayles in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 3rd with 5 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: January 20, 2016
