Convictions for October 2014
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during October 2014 the government reported 143 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 down 20.6 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 2014 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was up (12.4%). 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 35.8 percent from levels reported in 2009.
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 October 2014 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 60.8 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Money Laundering-Other" (11.9%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (4.2%) , "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (4.2%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (2.8%), "Fraud-Other" (2.8%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In October 2014, 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 October 2014, 143 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during October 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 October.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during October 2014 referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 29 1 1 1 More 18 USC 286 - Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims 19 2 4 7 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 19 2 2 2 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 9 4 5 5 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 7 5 10 4 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 6 6 14 6 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 4 7 3 21 More 18 USC 1028A - Aggravated Identity Theft 4 7 30 - More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 4 7 15 14 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 3 10 13 14 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 3 10 18 21 More 18 USC 1955 - Prohibition of illegal gambling businesses 3 10 30 - More 18 USC 1957 - Monetary transactions w/property from unlawful act 3 10 21 - More 26 USC 7202 - Willful failure to collect or pay over tax 3 10 7 12 More 31 USC 5324 - Structuring transactions to evade reporting requir 3 10 9 11 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 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency were the lead charges "Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 286 and "Attempt to evade or defeat tax" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201. "Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 286 was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 7 five years ago."Attempt to evade or defeat tax" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 f ive years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions — up 1100 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 that involves " Aggravated Identity Theft ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 1900 percent — was registered for convictions 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 convictions compared to one year ago — down 60 percent — was " Willful failure to collect or pay over tax " (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7202 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions — 20.6 percent — was for convictions where the lead charge was " Attempt to evade or defeat tax " (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In October 2014 the Justice Department said the government obtained 54.7 convictions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the number of convictions in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of convictions of this type last month are shown in Table 3.
Judicial District Count Rank Fla, M 11 1 More Penn, E 10 2 More N. J. 9 3 More Mich, E 7 4 More Cal, N 6 5 More Fla, S 5 6 More Ga, M 5 6 More Ohio, S 5 6 More Texas, W 5 6 More Ala, M 4 10 More Ind, N 4 10 More Nevada 4 10 More Ohio, N 4 10 More Virg, E 4 10 More Wash, W 4 10 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts
The Middle District of Florida (Tampa) — with 11 convictions — was the most active during October 2014.
The Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) ranked 2nd.
District of New Jersey 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 resulting in convictions of this type during October 2014 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Diamond, Paul Steven Penn, E 7 1 More Treadwell, Marc Thomas Ga, M 4 2 More Salas, Esther N. J. 4 2 More Sharp, George Kendall Fla, M 3 4 More Scriven, Mary Stenson Fla, M 3 4 More Rosenbaum, Robin S. Fla, S 3 4 More Tydingco-Gatewood, Frances M. Guam 3 4 More Springmann, Theresa Lazar Ind, N 3 4 More Cohn, Avern Levin Mich, E 3 4 More Wimes, Brian Curtis Mo, W 3 4 More Helmick, Jeffrey James Ohio, N 3 4 More Smith, Walter Scott, Jr. Texas, W 3 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 convictions , while the remaining 2 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 12 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Paul Steven Diamond in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) ranked 1st with 7 convicted in convictions.
Judges Marc Thomas Treadwell in the Middle District of Georgia (Macon) and Esther Salas in the District of New Jersey ranked 2nd with 4 convicted in convictions.
Report Generated: December 11, 2014
