White Collar Crime Prosecutions for December 2008
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during December 2008 the government reported 577 new white collar crime prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 5.3% 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 charged with 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 2008 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-4.4 percent). 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 17.3 percent from levels reported in 2003.
The decrease from the levels five years ago in white collar crime prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of white collar crime prosecutions of this type recorded on a month-to-month basis. 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 prosecutions of these matters in December 2008 was for "Fraud-Financial Institution", accounting for 23.1 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Other" (13%), "Fraud-Federal Program" ( 11.1%), "Fraud-Tax" (7.6%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (7.5%), "Fraud-Other Business" (7.1%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (6.4%), "Fraud-Health Care" (5.5%), "Fraud-Computer" (3.5%), "Fraud-Corporate" (3.5%), "Fraud-Securities" (3.5%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime prosecutions in December 2008 was FBI accounting for 33 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime referrals were: SecServ (13% ), Postal (10%), IRS (10%), DHS (7%). See Figure 3.
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In December 2008, 13 percent of white collar crime cases for these matters took place in U.S. Magistrate Courts which handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In the magistrate courts in December the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343 involving the "Fraud by wire, radio, or television". This was the lead charge for 13.3 percent of all magistrate filings in December.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records" (12%), "18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices" (12%), "18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents" (9.3 %), "18 USC 1344 - Bank fraud" (8%), "18 USC 1347 - Health Care Fraud" (6.7%).
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of white collar crime matters filed in U.S. District Court during December 2008.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 1344 - Bank fraud 84 1 1 1 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 54 2 3 8 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 54 2 2 2 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 44 4 6 3 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 30 5 5 5 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 30 5 4 4 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 27 7 7 7 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 22 8 11 25 More 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 15 9 15 11 More 18 USC 1347 - Health Care Fraud 11 10 8 9 More
Table 2: Top charges filed
"Bank fraud" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Bank fraud" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was the 1 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Ranked 2nd in frequency were the lead charges "Fraud and related activity - id documents" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 and "Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341. "Fraud and related activity - id documents" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was the 8 most frequently invoked 5 years ago.."Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 was ranked 2 a year ago, whi le it was the 2 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 47.6 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 that involves " Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—500 percent—was registered for prosecutions under " Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 17.9 percent—was Public money, property or records (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 41.7 percent—was for filings where the lead charge was " Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In December 2008 the Justice Department said the government brought 201.6 white collar crime prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of white collar crime 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 white collar crime prosecutions to receive a ranking.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Miss, S 1,130 17 1 4 31 More La, M 942 6 2 48 70 More Montana 760 6 3 53 66 More N. Y., S 686 29 4 3 3 More N Car, W 604 14 5 22 28 More Nevada 578 12 6 75 22 More R. I. 565 5 7 72 81 More Fla, S 498 27 8 2 6 More Cal, S 464 12 9 28 55 More Kansas 435 10 10 13 26 More
Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson)—with 1130 prosecutions as compared with 201.6 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during December 2008. The Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson) was ranked 4 a year ago.
The Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge) ranked 2nd.
District of Montana is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Kansas , now ranked 10th , and Western District of North Carolina (Asheville) at 5th In the same order, these districts ranked 13th and 22nd one year ago and 26th and 28th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of white collar crime prosecutions compared to one year ago— 84.6 percent—was Nevada . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 107.1 percent—was Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of white collar crime prosecutions— 37.2 percent—was Kansas . But over the past five years, Nevada showed the largest drop— 57.9 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 of this type during December 2008 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Starrett, Keith Miss, S 9 1 More Gold, Alan Stephen Fla, S 8 2 More Vratil, Kathryn Hoefer Kansas 8 2 More Phillips, Virginia A. Cal, C 7 4 More Huff, Marilyn L. Cal, S 7 4 More Robart, James L. Wash, W 7 4 More Ellison, Keith P. Texas, S 6 7 More Clevert, Charles N. Jr. Wisc, E 6 7 More Hicks, Larry R. Nevada 5 9 More Nugent, Donald C. Ohio, N 5 9 More Lynn, Barbara M. Texas, N 5 9 More Rodriguez, Xavier Texas, W 5 9 More
Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 5 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of white collar crime filings per capita, while the remaining 7 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 12 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Keith Starrett in the Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson) ranked 1st with 9 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judges Alan Stephen Gold in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) and Kathryn Hoefer Vratil in the District of Kansas ranked 2nd with 8 defendants in white collar crime cases.
