White Collar Crime Prosecutions for December 2009
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during December 2009 the government reported 674 new white collar crime prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 9.2% 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 2009 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (8.8 percent). 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 19.9 percent from levels reported in 2004.
The growth in these cases is partly related to increases in the matters filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. If magistrate cases are excluded and only Federal District Court cases are counted, the overall increase in white collar crime prosecutions is 1.8 percent instead of 19.9 percent. The evidence suggests that part of the difference may be the result of improvements in the recording of the magistrate cases by the Justice Department.
The increase 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. 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 prosecutions of these matters in December 2009 was for "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other", accounting for 19 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Financial Institution" (14.1%), "Fraud-Other " (9.6%), "Fraud-Other Business" (9.3%), "Fraud-Federal Program" (8.2%), "Fraud-Tax" (8%), "Fraud-Health Care" (6.7%), "Fraud-Mortgage" (6.1%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (5%), "Fraud-Consumer" (2.8%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime prosecutions in December 2009 was FBI accounting for 26 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime referrals were: DHS (19% ), SecServ (16%), Postal (8%), IRS (8%). See Figure 3.
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In December 2009, 177 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 December the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 involving the "Aggravated identity theft". This was the lead charge for 57.1 percent of all magistrate filings in December.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "18 USC 1344 - Bank fraud" (10.7%), "18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices" (7.9%), "18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles" (6.8%).
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In December 2009, 497 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during December there were an additional 40 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 December.
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 2009.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 1344 - Bank fraud 62 1 1 1 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 56 2 5 4 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 49 3 8 46 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 48 4 2 2 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 37 5 3 3 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 32 6 6 5 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 26 7 7 6 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 25 8 4 6 More 18 USC 1347 - Health Care Fraud 24 9 9 8 More 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 19 10 13 12 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 was the lead charge "Fraud by wire, radio, or television" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343. "Fraud by wire, radio, or television" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343 was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was the 4 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Ranked 3rd was "Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349. "Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349 was ranked 8 a year ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 64.7 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349 that involves " Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase—4480 %—when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 35.3 percent—was Fraud and related activity - id documents (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 28 percent—was for filings where the lead charge was " Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In December 2009 the Justice Department said the government brought 215.7 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 1,463 22 1 8 48 More Mo, W 1,057 26 2 21 19 More La, E 947 11 3 29 40 More Fla, S 885 48 4 1 2 More Tenn, W 860 11 5 39 22 More Ala, S 742 5 6 53 73 More Mo, E 666 16 7 18 9 More Ala, M 664 6 8 76 91 More Fla, N 569 8 9 66 76 More Penn, E 563 26 10 4 4 More
Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson)—with 1463 prosecutions as compared with 215.7 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during December 2009. The Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson) was ranked 8 a year ago.
The Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) ranked 2nd.
Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis), now ranked 7th , and Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) at 2nd In the same order, these districts ranked 18th and 21st one year ago and 9th and 19th 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— 120 percent—was Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 600 percent—was Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of white collar crime prosecutions— 27.3 percent—was Southern District of Alabama (Mobile). But over the past five years, Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) showed the largest drop— 6.9 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 2009 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Smith, Ortrie D. Mo, W 17 1 More Lee, Tom Stewart Miss, S 12 2 More Lenard, Joan A. Fla, S 11 3 More Daniel, Wiley Young Colorado 8 4 More Hinkle, Robert Lewis Fla, N 7 5 More Ungaro-Benages, Ursula Mancusi Fla, S 7 5 More Gaitan, Fernando J. Jr. Mo, W 7 5 More McCalla, Jon Phipps Tenn, W 6 8 More Autrey, Henry Edward Mo, E 5 9 More Arcara, Richard Joseph N. Y., W 5 9 More McLaughlin, Mary A. Penn, E 5 9 More Pratter, Gene E.K. Penn, E 5 9 More
Table 4: Top 10 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 white collar crime filings per capita, 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 Ortrie D. Smith in the Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) ranked 1st with 17 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judge Tom Stewart Lee in the Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson) ranked 2nd with 12 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judge Joan A. Lenard in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 3rd with 11 defendants in white collar crime cases.
