White Collar Crime Prosecutions for February 2015
452 |
4.1 |
-20.4 |
-26.8 |
-21.6 |
Table 1. Criminal White Collar Crime Prosecutions
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2015 the government reported 452 new white collar crime prosecutions.
According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 4.1 percent over the previous month.
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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.
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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 2015 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in
the previous year, the number of filings was down (-20.4%).
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 26.8 percent from levels reported in 2010.
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. 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.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in White Collar Crime Prosecutions
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 February 2015 was for "Fraud-Other", accounting for 16.8 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Federal Program" (12.4%), "Fraud-Tax" (12.4%), "
Fraud-Financial Institution" (10.8%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (10.4%), "Fraud-Health Care" (8.2%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (6.4%), "Fraud-Other Business" (5.3%), "Fraud-Mortgage" (3.3%), "Fraud-Securities" (2.9%).
See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime prosecutions in February 2015
was FBI accounting for 25 percent of prosecutions referred.
Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime referrals were:
IRS (14% ), Postal (13%), DHS (10%), SSA (8%).
See Figure 3.
Figure 2. Specific Types of Prosecutions
Figure 3. Prosecutions by Investigative Agency
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In February 2015, 80 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 "Aggravated Identity Theft". This was the lead charge
for 20 percent of all magistrate filings in February.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices" (15%), "18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television" (10%), "18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy" (7.5%)
, "18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents" (6.3%).
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In February 2015, 372 defendants in new cases
for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during February there
were an additional 49 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 prosecutions of white collar crime matters
filed in U.S. District Court during February 2015.
Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Fraud by wire, radio, or television" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343) and "Bank Fraud" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344) were the most frequent recorded lead charges.
"Fraud by wire, radio, or television" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago."Bank Fraud" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Public money, property or records" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 641.
"Public money, property or records" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 8 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest
increase in prosecutions — up 14.1 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206
that involves " Fraud and False statements
".
Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 75.7 percent — was registered for
prosecutions under " Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims
" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 286 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest
decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 46.6 percent — was
" Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy
" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349 ).
Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 58.4 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 February 2015 the Justice Department said the government brought 161 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.
Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) — with 777 prosecutions as compared with 161 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during February 2015.
The Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 2nd.
Southern District of Florida (Miami) is now ranking 3rd.
The Southern District of Florida (Miami) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were
Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson), now ranked
8th
, and Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth)
at 9th
In the same order, these districts ranked 12th and 30th one year ago and 8th and 15th 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 — 254.5 percent — was
Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington).
Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 118.8 percent — was
Idaho .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the
largest drop in the rate of white collar crime prosecutions — 52.2 percent — was
Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson).
This was the same district that had the largest increase — 59 percent — when compared with five years ago.
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 February 2015 are shown in Table 4.
A total of 7 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 3 judges were from other districts.
Judge Sam A. Lindsay in the Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth) ranked 1st with 12 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judges
Virginia Maria Hernandez Covington in the Middle District of Florida (Tampa), Marcia G. Cooke in the Southern District of Florida (Miami), Danny C. Reeves in the Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington), Paul Adam Engelmayer in the Southern District of New
York (Manhattan) and C. Darnell Jones, II in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) ranked 2nd with 6 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Report Generated: April 7, 2015