White Collar Crime Convictions for February 2012
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2012 the government reported 656 new white collar crime convictions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 7.5% 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 2012 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was up (2.9 percent). Convictions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are up 19.7 percent from levels reported in 2007.
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 convictions is 10.1 percent instead of 19.7 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 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 February 2012 was for "Fraud-Financial Institution", accounting for 14.9 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Fraud-Other" (12.2%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other " (11.3%), "Fraud-Federal Program" (10.2%), "Fraud-Mortgage" (9.3%), "Fraud-Tax" (9.3%), "Fraud-Health Care" (7.8%), "Fraud-Other Business" (7.3%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (6.1%), "Fraud-Securities" (2.4%), "Fraud-Other Investment" (2.1%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime convictions in February 2012 was FBI accounting for 29 percent of convictions. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime convictions were: SecServ (19% ), Postal (13%), IRS (11%), DHS (8%). See Figure 3.
White Collar Crime Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In February 2012, 19 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 February 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 57.9 percent of all magistrate convictions in February.
White Collar Crime Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In February 2012, 637 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during February 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 February.
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 February 2012.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 77 1 1 1 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 72 2 2 2 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 68 3 3 3 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 45 4 5 6 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 45 4 8 17 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 43 6 4 4 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 36 7 7 5 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 27 8 6 7 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 24 9 10 13 More 42 USC 408 - Fed Old Age, Survivors & Disab Insur -Penalties 17 10 13 14 More Table 2: Top charges for convictions
"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 ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341. "Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "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 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions—up 91.2 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—655.8 %—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 17.7 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— 18.2 percent—was for convictions where the lead charge was " Bank Fraud " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In February 2012 the Justice Department said the government obtained 249 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 Ala, S 1,745 12 1 56 63 More Nebraska 1,269 19 2 37 50 More La, M 915 6 3 85 30 More Ark, E 902 12 4 39 67 More Mo, E 825 20 5 13 12 More Ill, S 754 8 6 66 60 More Okla, W 740 12 7 50 72 More Fla, S 612 34 8 1 1 More Virg, E 521 25 9 12 5 More Ken, E 498 9 10 64 33 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of Alabama (Mobile)—with 1745 convictions as compared with 249 convictions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during February 2012.
The District of Nebraska ranked 2nd.
Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria), now ranked 9th , and Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) at 5th In the same order, these districts ranked 12th and 13th one year ago and 5th and 12th 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— 285.7 percent—was Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 330.8 percent—was Western District of Oklahoma (Oklahoma City).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of white collar crime convictions— 7.1 percent—was Southern District of Florida (Miami). But over the past five years, Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge) showed the largest drop— 59.5 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 February 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Perez-Gimenez, Juan Manuel Puer Rico 20 1 385 609 More Lioi, Sara Elizabeth Ohio, N 10 2 283 - More DuBose, Kristi K. Ala, S 8 3 158 470 More Kopf, Richard George Nebraska 8 3 158 347 More Smith, Ortrie D. Mo, W 7 5 504 40 More Carter, Susan Webber Ark, E 6 6 158 263 More Wake, Neil Vincent Arizona 5 7 210 470 More Seitz, Patricia A. Fla, S 5 7 57 61 More Cooke, Marcia G. Fla, S 5 7 24 263 More Marten, John Thomas Kansas 5 7 504 347 More Sippel, Rodney W. Mo, E 5 7 385 263 More Autrey, Henry Edward Mo, E 5 7 74 200 More Camp, Laurie Smith Nebraska 5 7 32 200 More Gaughan, Patricia Anne Ohio, N 5 7 283 609 More Gelpi, Gustavo Antonio, Jr. Puer Rico 5 7 385 - More Benson, Dee Vance Utah 5 7 74 347 More Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 8 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 8 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 16 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Juan Manuel Perez-Gimenez in the District of Puerto Rico ranked 1st with 20 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Judge Sara Elizabeth Lioi in the Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland) ranked 2nd with 10 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Judges Kristi K. DuBose in the Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) and Richard George Kopf in the District of Nebraska ranked 3rd with 8 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Report Generated: May 8, 2012
