White Collar Crime Convictions for December 2017
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during December 2017 the government reported 372 new white collar crime convictions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 4.5 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 2017 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was down (-11%). 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 2012.
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 December 2017 was for "Fraud-Other", accounting for 23.4 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Fraud-Tax" (11.8%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (11%), "Fraud-Health Care" (11%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (10.8%), "Fraud-Federal Program" (9.7%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (5.1%), "Fraud-Other Business" (4%), "Fraud-Computer" (2.7%), "Fraud-Bankruptcy" (2.4%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime convictions in December 2017 was FBI accounting for 26 percent of convictions. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime convictions were: IRS (15% ), SecServ (12%), Postal (8%). See Figure 3.
White Collar Crime Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In December 2017, 2 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 "Aggravated Identity Theft". This was the lead charge for 50 percent of all magistrate convictions in December.
White Collar Crime Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In December 2017, 370 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during December 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 December.
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 December 2017.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 44 1 1 2 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 33 2 7 4 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 32 3 3 5 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 31 4 5 6 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 24 5 4 3 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 20 6 2 7 More 18 USC 1028A - Aggravated Identity Theft 18 7 13 13 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 18 7 6 1 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 17 9 8 8 More 18 USC 1347 - Health Care Fraud 17 9 9 9 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 2 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 371. "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 was ranked 7 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five 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 3 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 34.4 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 that involves " Aggravated Identity Theft ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 50.9 % — 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 30 percent — was " Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 63.8 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In December 2017 the Justice Department said the government obtained 137.4 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 N. Y., S 1,006 44 1 11 21 More Mo, E 778 19 2 9 15 More Virg, W 439 8 3 55 56 More Ga, M 418 7 4 73 91 More Kansas 371 9 5 29 37 More Ark, E 366 5 6 46 45 More Idaho 356 5 7 62 65 More Ken, E 327 6 8 41 49 More Fla, S 311 19 9 1 1 More Penn, E 266 13 10 7 4 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of New York (Manhattan) — with 1006 convictions as compared with 137.4 convictions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during December 2017.
The Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) ranked 2nd. The Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) was ranked 9 a year ago.
Western District of Virginia (Roanoke) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Southern District of New York (Manhattan), now ranked 1st , and Kansas at 5th In the same order, these districts ranked 11th and 29th one year ago and 21st and 37th 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 — 184.9 percent — was Southern District of New York (Manhattan). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 200 percent — was Middle District of Georgia (Macon).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of white collar crime convictions — 41 percent — was Southern District of Florida (Miami). But over the past five years, Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock) showed the largest drop — 33.3 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 December 2017 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Byron, Paul Gregory Fla, M 6 1 More Rakoff, Jed Saul N. Y., S 6 1 More Nathan, Alison Julie N. Y., S 6 1 More Cerezo, Carmen Consuelo Puer Rico 6 1 More Marten, John Thomas Kansas 5 5 More Van Tatenhove, Gregory Frederick Ken, E 5 5 More Kaplan, Lewis A. N. Y., S 5 5 More Ungaro, Ursula Mancusi Fla, S 4 8 More Williams, Kathleen Mary Fla, S 4 8 More Perry, Catherine D. Mo, E 4 8 More Sippel, Rodney W. Mo, E 4 8 More Castel, P. Kevin N. Y., S 4 8 More Abrams, Ronnie N. Y., S 4 8 More Clark, Ron Texas, E 4 8 More Moon, Norman K. Virg, W 4 8 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 12 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 3 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 15 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judges Paul Gregory Byron in the Middle District of Florida (Tampa), Jed Saul Rakoff in the Southern District of New York (Manhattan), Alison Julie Nathan in the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) and Carmen Consuelo Cerezo in the District of Puerto Rico ranked 1st with 6 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Report Generated: January 24, 2018
