White Collar Crime Convictions for April 2018
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during April 2018 the government reported 407 new white collar crime convictions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 34.2 percent over the previous month.
White Collar Crime
This report summarizes the government's recent efforts when it comes to combating white collar crime — the number of such cases, the investigative agencies involved, the laws cited, the busiest federal districts and the busiest federal judges.
See more...The comparisons of the number of defendants convicted for white collar crime-related offenses 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 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was down (-8.6%). Convictions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are down 29.7 percent from levels reported in 2013.
The decrease from the levels five years ago in white collar crime convictions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of white collar crime 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.
Within the broad category of white collar crime, cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
Case types within white collar crime are
• Federal Procurement Fraud • Federal Program Fraud • Tax Fraud • Arson for Profit • Other Insurance Fraud • Financial Institution Fraud • Bankruptcy Fraud • Advance Fee Schemes • Other Fraud Against Businesses • Consumer Fraud • Securities Fraud • Commodities Fraud • Other Investment Fraud • Antitrust Violations - Other • Computer Fraud • Health Care Fraud • Fraud Against Insurance Providers • Intellectual Property Violations • Insider Fraud Against Insurance Providers • MEWA (Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements) Fraud/MET • Antitrust Violations - Airlines • Antitrust Violations - Banking • Antitrust Violations - Defense Procurement • Antitrust Violations - Extraterritorial Application Of • Antitrust Violations - Finance Markets, Other than Banking • Telemarketing Fraud • Corporate Fraud • Identity Theft • Aggravated Identity Theft • Other White Collar Crime/Fraud The largest number of convictions of these matters in April 2018 was for "Fraud-Other", accounting for 17.7 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (12.5%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (10.6%), "Fraud-Tax" (9.8%), "Fraud-Federal Program" (9.3%), "Fraud-Health Care" (9.3%), "Fraud-Other Business" (6.4%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (5.2%), "Fraud-Other Investment" (4.2%), "Fraud-Computer" (3.4%), "Fraud-Mortgage" (2.7%), "Fraud-Bankruptcy" (2.2%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime convictions in April 2018 was FBI accounting for 31 percent of convictions. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime convictions were: IRS (13% ), SecServ (11%), DHS (11%), Postal (8%). See Figure 3.
White Collar Crime Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In April 2018, 8 defendants in white collar crime 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 April the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 involving "Aggravated Identity Theft". This was the lead charge for 75 percent of all magistrate convictions in April.
White Collar Crime Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In April 2018, 399 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during April 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 April.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of white collar crime matters filed in U.S. District Court during April 2018.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 48 1 1 1 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 40 2 6 2 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 32 3 4 5 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 27 4 2 3 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 26 5 5 4 More 18 USC 1347 - Health Care Fraud 25 6 9 7 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 17 7 3 6 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 16 8 7 8 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 15 9 11 10 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 11 10 8 9 More 18 USC 1030 - Fraud and related activity - computers 11 10 15 25 More Table 2. Top Charges for Convictions
"Fraud by wire, radio, or television" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Fraud by wire, radio, or television" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Bank Fraud" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344. "Bank Fraud" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 was ranked 6 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Fraud and related activity - access devices" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1029. "Fraud and related activity - access devices" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1029 was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions — up 25.8 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1030 that involves " Fraud and related activity - computers ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 85.7 % — when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago — down 32.9 percent — was " Attempt to evade or defeat tax " (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions — 49.7 percent — was for convictions where the lead charge was " Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In April 2018 the Justice Department said the government obtained 148.2 white collar crime convictions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of white collar crime 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 white collar crime convictions to receive a ranking.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Mo, E 778 19 1 5 17 More Fla, S 590 36 2 1 1 More Mich, W 550 16 3 21 34 More Iowa, S 531 8 4 72 57 More La, E 500 7 5 50 26 More Nebraska 378 6 6 62 39 More Ind, N 371 8 7 76 51 More Ohio, N 335 16 8 14 5 More La, W 332 6 9 66 39 More N. Y., S 320 14 10 9 8 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) — with 778 convictions as compared with 148.2 convictions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during April 2018. The Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) was ranked 5 a year ago.
The Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 2nd. The Southern District of Florida (Miami) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 for most frequent use five years ago.
Western District of Michigan (Grand Rapids) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland), now ranked 8th , and Western District of Michigan (Grand Rapids) at 3rd In the same order, these districts ranked 14th and 21st one year ago and 5th and 34th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of white collar crime convictions compared to one year ago — 120 percent — was Northern District of Indiana (South Bend). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 77.8 percent — was Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of white collar crime convictions — 33.9 percent — was Southern District of Florida (Miami). But over the past five years, Western District of Louisiana (Shreveport) showed the largest drop — 48.6 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 white collar crime crime cases resulting in convictions of this type during April 2018 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Maloney, Paul Lewis Mich, W 11 1 More Adams, John R. Ohio, N 10 2 More Ross, John Andrew Mo, E 7 3 More Altonaga, Cecilia M. Fla, S 5 4 More Corrigan, Timothy J. Fla, M 4 5 More Ungaro, Ursula Mancusi Fla, S 4 5 More Scola, Robert Nichols, Jr. Fla, S 4 5 More Britt, William Earl N Car, E 4 5 More Rose, Thomas M. Ohio, S 4 5 More Davis, Mark Steven Virg, E 4 5 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 6 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of white collar crime convictions per capita, while the remaining 4 judges were from other districts.
Judge Paul Lewis Maloney in the Western District of Michigan (Grand Rapids) ranked 1st with 11 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Judge John R. Adams in the Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland) ranked 2nd with 10 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Judge John Andrew Ross in the Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) ranked 3rd with 7 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Report Generated: May 23, 2018
