White Collar Crime Prosecutions for February 2017
366 |
-20.1 |
-21.7 |
-40.4 |
-39.0 |
Table 1. Criminal White Collar Crime Prosecutions
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2017 the government reported 366 new white collar crime prosecutions.
According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 20.1 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 2017 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in
the previous year, the number of filings was down (-21.7%).
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 40.4 percent from levels reported in 2012.
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 2017 was for "Fraud-Other", accounting for 21 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Tax" (10.9%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (10.4%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (9.8%), "Fraud-Federal Program" (9%), "Fraud-Health Care" (9%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (9%), "Fraud-Other Business" (6%), "Fraud-Computer" (3.8%), "Fraud-Consumer" (3.3%), "Fraud-Securities" (2.2%).
See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime prosecutions in February 2017
was FBI accounting for 31 percent of prosecutions referred.
Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime referrals were:
IRS (14% ), Postal (13%), SecServ (9%), DHS (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 2017, 70 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 1343 involving "Fraud by wire, radio, or television". This was the lead charge
for 15.7 percent of all magistrate filings in February.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "18 USC 1028A - Aggravated Identity Theft" (14.3%), "18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud" (10%), "18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" (8.6%), "18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices" (7.1%), "18 USC 1708 - Theft or receipt of stolen mail matter generally" (7.1%).
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In February 2017, 296 defendants in new cases
for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during February there
were an additional 30 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 2017.
Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"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 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Bank Fraud" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344.
"Bank Fraud" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 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 7 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest
increase in prosecutions — up 31.3 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1708
that involves " Theft or receipt of stolen mail matter generally ".
This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 133.3 % — 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 64.5 percent — was
" Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 ).
This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 74.3 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In February 2017 the Justice Department said the government brought 121.7 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.
Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge) — with 722 prosecutions as compared with 121.7 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during February 2017.
The Southern District of New York (Manhattan) ranked 2nd.
The Southern District of New York (Manhattan) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 for most frequent use five years ago.
Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were
Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington), now ranked
7th
, and Western District of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh)
at 5th
In the same order, these districts ranked 19th and 21st one year ago and 41st and 39th 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 — 108.3 percent — was
Western District of Kentucky (Louisville).
Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 85.7 percent — was
Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the
largest drop in the rate of white collar crime prosecutions — 55.6 percent — was
Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery).
This was the same district that had the largest increase — 75 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 2017 are shown in Table 4.
A total of 11 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 6 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 17 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judges Lorna Gail Schofield in the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) and David S. Cercone in the Western District of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) ranked 1st with 9 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judge Clark Waddoups in the District of Utah ranked 3rd with 8 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Report Generated: March 20, 2017