White Collar Crime Prosecutions for January 2008
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2008 the government reported 710 new white collar crime prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 28.4% 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 2008 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was only slightlydown (-0.2 percent). 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 17.3 percent from levels reported in 2003.
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. 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 prosecutions of these matters in January 2008 was for "Fraud-Financial Institution", accounting for 18.3 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Federal Program" (16.9%), " Other-Not Specified" (16.6%), "Fraud-Other" (13.5%), "Fraud-Tax" (9.3%), "Fraud-Other Business" (5.6%), "Fraud-Health Care" (4.8%), "Fraud-Consumer" (3.8%), "Fraud-Telemarketing" (3.2%), "Fraud-Computer" (2.4%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime prosecutions in January 2008 was FBI accounting for 25 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime referrals were: SecServ (17% ), IRS (10%), Postal (8%), DHS (7%). See Figure 3.
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In January 2008, 15 percent of white collar crime cases for these matters 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 1028 involving the "Fraud and related activity - id documents". This was the lead charge for 30.5 percent of all magistrate filings in January.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "18 USC 1382 - Entering military, naval, or Coast Guard property" (12.4%), "18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" (7.6%), " 42 USC 408 - Fed Old Age, Survivors + Disab Insur -Penalties" (5.7%).
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
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 January 2008.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 66 1 2 2 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank fraud 63 2 1 1 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 51 3 3 3 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 33 4 6 4 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 32 5 7 9 More 42 USC 408 - Fed Old Age, Survivors + Disab Insur -Penalties 32 5 15 11 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 30 7 4 5 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 23 8 13 - More 18 USC 2326 - Telemarketing Fraud - Enhanced Penalties 22 9 - - More 42 :1383a 21 10 94 - More
Table 2: Top charges filed
"Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was the 2 most frequently invoked 5 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 1 a year ago, while it was the 1 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Ranked 3rd was "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 371. "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was the 3 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 2100 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 42 U.S.C Section 1383 that involves "42 :1383a ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—70.6 percent—was registered for prosecutions under " Public money, property or records " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 23.6 percent—was Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease— 47.2 %—when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In January 2008 the Justice Department said the government brought 242.5 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.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Fla, S 1,078 59 1 1 8 More Penn, W 1,034 33 2 21 33 More Miss, S 927 14 3 9 31 More Montana 889 7 4 32 70 More Texas, E 860 24 5 22 30 More Wisc, E 837 23 6 44 28 More R. I. 674 6 7 78 87 More Texas, W 627 30 8 39 17 More Ill, S 565 6 9 68 42 More Okla, W 511 8 10 34 54 More
Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of Florida (Miami)—with 1078 prosecutions as compared with 242.5 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during January 2008. The Southern District of Florida (Miami) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 8 five years ago.
The Western District of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) ranked 2nd.
Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson) is now ranking 3rd. The Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson) was ranked 9 a year ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Western District of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh), now ranked 2nd , and Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) at 5th In the same order, these districts ranked 21st and 22nd one year ago and 33rd and 30th 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— 121.2 percent—was Western District of Texas (San Antonio). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 260 percent—was Rhode Island .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of white collar crime prosecutions— 31.6 percent—was Montana . But over the past five years, Southern District of Illinois (East St. Louis) showed the largest drop— 56.3 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 of this type during January 2008 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Lenard, Joan A. Fla, S 32 1 49 103 More Folsom, David Texas, E 20 2 392 494 More Sparks, Sam Texas, W 18 3 49 170 More Carter, David O. Cal, C 10 4 303 31 More Conti, Joy Flowers Penn, W 9 5 303 494 More Rosenblatt, Paul Gerhardt Arizona 7 6 511 170 More Ambrose, Donetta W. Penn, W 7 6 134 344 More Collier, Curtis Lynn Tenn, E 7 6 64 103 More Stadtmueller, Joseph Peter Wisc, E 7 6 64 11 More Cooke, Marcia G. Fla, S 6 10 134 - More Guirola, Louis Jr. Miss, S 6 10 2 - More Yeakel, Earl Leroy III Texas, W 6 10 392 - More Clevert, Charles N. Jr. Wisc, E 6 10 392 50 More
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 3 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 13 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Joan A. Lenard in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 1st with 32 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judge David Folsom in the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) ranked 2nd with 20 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judge Sam Sparks in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 3rd with 18 defendants in white collar crime cases.
