White Collar Crime Prosecutions for January 2007
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2007 the government reported 490 new white collar crime prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 13.3% 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 (-6.2 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 21.9 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 January 2007 was for "Fraud-Financial Institution", accounting for 26.5 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Federal Program" (15.3%), "Fraud-Other" (12.4%), " Fraud-Other Business" (11.6%), "Fraud-Tax" (11%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime prosecutions in January 2007 was FBI accounting for 35 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime referrals were: Secret Service (20% ), IRS (12%), Postal Service (6%). See Figure 3.
Lead Charge in White Collar Crime Prosecutions
US Magistrate Courts
In January 2007, 19 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 January the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 involving the "Bank fraud". This was the lead charge for 28.6 percent of all magistrate filings in January.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" (17.6%), "18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements or entries generally" (15.4%), " 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices" (9.9%), "18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television" (7.7%).
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 January 2007.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 1344 - Bank fraud 60 1 1 1 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 40 2 4 4 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 33 3 3 5 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 19 4 6 3 Details 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 19 4 2 2 Details 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 17 6 12 12 Details 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 16 7 9 8 Details 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 15 8 8 10 Details 18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements or entries generally 15 8 11 9 Details 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 14 10 13 11 Details
Table 2: Top charges filed
"Bank fraud" (18 U.S.C Section 1344) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. This statute was also ranked 1st a year ago as well as 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. This statute was ranked 4th 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 31.9 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—14.9 percent—was registered for prosecutions under " Attempt to evade or defeat tax " (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 25.7 percent—was Fraud and related activity - access devices (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1029 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease— 58.3 %—when compared with five years ago.
White Collar Crime Prosecutions by Judicial District
In January 2007 the Justice Department said the government brought 163 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 Tenn, W 1,412 18 1 1 2 Details La, M 1,317 8 2 2 - Details Delaware 1,156 8 3 - - Details Ala, S 897 6 4 - - Details Miss, S 727 11 5 5 6 Details Mo, E 504 12 6 4 14 Details Penn, E 478 22 7 21 18 More Ga, S 434 5 8 - 9 Details Mo, W 414 10 9 16 20 Details Penn, M 398 10 10 9 25 Details
Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
Western District of Tennessee (Memphis)—with 1412 prosecutions as compared with 163 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during January 2007. The district's position last year was 1st. Five years ago, the district's position was 2.
Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge) ranked 2nd. This marked a fall from Middle Louisiana's 2ndplace ranking just one year ago.
Delaware is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Western District of Missouri (Kansas City), now ranked 9th , and Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) at 7th. In the same order, these districts ranked 16th and 21th one year ago and 20th and 18th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in white collar crime prosecutions compared to one year ago— 91.3 percent—was Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 93 percent—was Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in white collar crime prosecutions— 51.6 percent—was Middle District of Pennsylvania (Scranton). But over the past five years, Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) showed the largest drop— 39.5 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 January 2007 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Pisano, Joel A. N. J. 11 1 527 164 Details DuBois, Jan Ely Penn, E 9 2 527 411 Details McCalla, Jon Phipps Tenn, W 9 2 85 597 Details McLaughlin, Mary A. Penn, E 7 4 401 124 Details Robinson, Sue Lewis Delaware 6 5 - 164 Details Bennett, Richard D. Maryland 6 5 300 - Details Todd, James Dale Tenn, W 5 7 85 597 Details Steele, William H. Ala, S 4 8 401 - Details Carnes, Julie E. Ga, N 4 8 42 411 Details Vanaskie, Thomas I. Penn, M 4 8 - 507 Details Fish, A[llen] Joe Texas, N 4 8 234 3 Details
Table 4: Top 10 judges
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 4 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Joel A. Pisano in the New Jersey ranked 1st with 11 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judge Jan Ely DuBois in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) ranked 2nd with 9 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judge Jon Phipps McCalla in Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 2nd as well with 9 new white collar crime cases.
