White Collar Crime Prosecutions for February 2007
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2007 the government reported 477 new white collar crime prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 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 2007 prosecutions are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the filings were down (-5.9 percent). Prosecutions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that the prosecutions are down 21.7 percent from levels reported in 2002.
The decrease from the levels five years ago in white collar crime prosecutions is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of white collar crime prosecutions 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.
Within the broad category of white collar crime, cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
Case types within white collar crime are
• Fraud-Federal Procurement
• Fraud-Federal Program
• Fraud-Tax
• Fraud-Arson for Profit
• Fraud-Other Insurance
• Fraud-Financial Institution
• Fraud-Bankruptcy
• Fraud-Advance Fee Schemes
• Fraud-Other Business
• Fraud-Consumer
• Fraud-Securities
• Fraud-Commodities
• Fraud-Other Investment
• Antitrust-Other
• Fraud-Computer
• Fraud-Health Care
• Fraud-Against Ins. Provider
• Fraud-Insider Ins. Provider
• Fraud-MEWA/MET
• Antitrust-Airlines
• Antitrust-Banking
• Antitrust-Defense Procurement
• Antitrust-Extraterritorial
• Antitrust-Other Finance Mkts.
• Fraud-Telemarketing
• Fraud-Corporate
• Fraud-Other
The largest number of prosecutions in February 2007 was for "Fraud-Financial Institution", accounting for 23.5 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Other" (16.4%), "Fraud-Federal Program" (15.5%), " Fraud-Health Care" (12.2%), "Fraud-Tax" (9.9%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime prosecutions in February 2007 was FBI accounting for 36 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime referrals were: Secret Service (16% ), IRS (12%), Postal Service (8%). See Figure 3.
Lead Charge in White Collar Crime Prosecutions
US Magistrate Courts
In February 2007, 11 percent of white collar crime cases took place in U.S. Magistrate Courts which handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In the magistrate courts in February the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1029 involving the "Fraud and related activity - access devices". This was the lead charge for 16.7 percent of all magistrate filings in February.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "18 USC 1344 - Bank fraud" (16.7%), "18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy" (11.1%), "18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles" (9.3%), " 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television" (9.3%).
US District Courts
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of white collar crime matters filed in U.S. District Court during February 2007.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 65 1 4 4 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank fraud 55 2 1 1 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 29 3 3 5 More 18 USC 1347 - Health Care Fraud 27 4 6 8 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 26 5 2 2 More 18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements or entries generally 24 6 10 9 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 19 7 9 7 Details 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 19 7 5 3 Details 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 18 9 8 11 Details 18 USC 656 - Theft/embezzlement/misapplication by bank off, emp 13 10 11 6 Details 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 13 10 14 10 Details
Table 2: Top charges filed
"Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" (18 U.S.C Section 371) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. This statute was ranked 4th a year ago as well as five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Bank fraud" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344. This statute was ranked 1st a year ago as well as five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Fraud by wire, radio, or television" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343. This statute was ranked 3rd a year ago, while it was the 5th most frequently invoked 5 years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 28.4 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1001 that involves " Fraud/false statements or entries generally ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—43.1 percent—was registered for prosecutions under " False, fictitious or fraudulent claims " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 287 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 45.3 percent—was Health Care Fraud (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1347 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 59.1 percent—was for filings where the lead charge was " Theft/embezzlement/misapplication by bank off, emp " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 656 ).
White Collar Crime Prosecutions by Judicial District
In February 2007 the Justice Department said the government brought 172.9 white collar crime prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the 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 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 La, M 1,317 8 1 1 - Details Ala, S 1,046 7 2 - - Details Miss, S 926 14 3 4 10 Details Okla, N 746 6 4 - - Details Ala, N 587 13 5 22 2 Details Fla, S 562 30 6 6 15 More Mo, E 546 13 7 3 12 Details S Car 543 19 8 7 5 Details Kansas 351 8 9 19 - Details Penn, E 326 15 10 16 17 Details
Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge)—with 1317 prosecutions as compared with 172.9 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during February 2007. The district's position last year was 1st.
Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) ranked 2nd.
Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson) is now ranking 3rd. It moved up in its rankings from a year ago when it ranked 4th. Five years ago, the district's position was 10.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), now ranked 10th , and Kansas at 9th. In the same order, these districts ranked 16th and 19th one year ago and 17th and .th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in white collar crime prosecutions compared to one year ago— 81.8 percent—was Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 157.7 percent—was Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in white collar crime prosecutions— 25.7 percent—was Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis). But over the past five years, Northern District of Alabama (Birmingham) showed the largest drop— 40.6 percent.
Top Ranked District Judges
At any one time, there are about 680 federal District Court judges working in the United States. For the entire nation, the judges recorded with the largest number of new white collar crime crime cases during February 2007 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Proctor, R. David Ala, N 7 1 294 - Details Dimitrouleas, William P. Fla, S 7 1 116 64 Details Sippel, Rodney W. Mo, E 7 1 161 495 Details Martinez, Ricardo S. Wash, W 7 1 116 382 Details Murguia, Carlos Kansas 6 5 294 593 Details Wingate, Henry Travillion Miss, S 6 5 14 593 Details Thompson, Anne Elise N. J. 5 7 161 298 Details DuBois, Jan Ely Penn, E 5 7 532 382 Details Davis, Legrome D. Penn, E 5 7 116 - Details Phillips, Virginia A. Cal, C 4 10 387 495 Details Cooke, Marcia G. Fla, S 4 10 116 - Details Brady, James J. La, M 4 10 25 298 Details Gleeson, John N. Y., E 4 10 387 382 Details Eagan, Claire Okla, N 4 10 532 185 Details
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 4 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 14 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge R. David Proctor in the Northern District of Alabama (Birmingham) ranked 1st with 7 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judge William P. Dimitrouleas in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 1st as well with 7 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judge Rodney W. Sippel in Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) ranked 1st as well with 7 new white collar crime cases.
