White Collar Crime Convictions for January 2015
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2015 the government reported 667 new white collar crime convictions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 9.3 percent 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 2015 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was only slightly down (-0.6%). Convictions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are down 10 percent from levels reported in 2010.
The decrease 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 January 2015 was for "Fraud-Other", accounting for 20.7 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Fraud-Tax" (13.2%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (10.9%), " Fraud-Federal Program" (10%), "Fraud-Health Care" (8.5%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (6.3%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (5.5%), "Fraud-Other Business" (4.8%), "Fraud-Mortgage" (4.2%), "Fraud-Computer" (3.4%), "Fraud-Federal Procurement" (2.4%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime convictions in January 2015 was FBI accounting for 27 percent of convictions. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime convictions were: IRS (16% ), SecServ (15%), DHS (11%), Postal (7%). See Figure 3.
White Collar Crime Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In January 2015, 10 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 January the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 involving "Aggravated Identity Theft". This was the lead charge for 70 percent of all magistrate convictions in January.
White Collar Crime Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In January 2015, 657 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during January 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 January.
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 January 2015.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 84 1 1 3 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 49 2 2 1 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 49 2 4 10 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 46 4 6 8 More 18 USC 1347 - Health Care Fraud 44 5 9 7 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 39 6 7 5 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 33 7 3 2 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 30 8 - - More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 30 8 5 6 More 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 24 10 10 9 More Table 2. Top Charges for Convictions
"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 3 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency were the lead charges "Bank Fraud" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 and "Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349. "Bank Fraud" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago."Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349 was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 10 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions — up 19.9 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 that involves " Public money, property or records ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 145.1 percent — was registered for convictions under " Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago — down 15.7 percent — was " Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 29.9 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In January 2015 the Justice Department said the government obtained 251.2 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 La, M 2,209 15 1 91 45 More Ala, S 1,583 11 2 27 54 More Arizona 1,136 62 3 33 45 More Ill, S 842 9 4 47 69 More Fla, S 796 46 5 1 1 More Mo, E 782 19 6 13 9 More Nebraska 711 11 7 35 52 More Tenn, W 607 8 8 56 43 More Maryland 530 26 9 29 7 More La, E 515 7 10 34 25 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge) — with 2209 convictions as compared with 251.2 convictions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during January 2015.
The Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) ranked 2nd.
District of Arizona is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis), now ranked 6th , and Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) at 2nd In the same order, these districts ranked 13th and 27th one year ago and 9th and 54th 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 — 333.3 percent — was Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 228.6 percent — was Arizona .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of white collar crime convictions — 23.1 percent — was Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans). But over the past five years, Southern District of Florida (Miami) showed the largest drop — 41.4 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 January 2015 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Wake, Neil Vincent Arizona 35 1 391 344 More Jackson, Brian Anthony La, M 14 2 491 - More Oetken, James Paul N. Y., S 9 3 21 - More Bolton, Susan Ritchie Arizona 8 4 - - More Campbell, David G. Arizona 8 4 - 458 More Cooke, Marcia G. Fla, S 7 6 40 55 More O'Grady, Liam Virg, E 7 6 491 - More Williams, Kathleen Mary Fla, S 6 8 10 - More Anderson, Stanley Thomas Tenn, W 6 8 40 202 More Biery, Samuel Frederick, Jr. Texas, W 6 8 29 266 More Table 4. Top Ten 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 convictions per capita, while the remaining 3 judges were from other districts.
Judge Neil Vincent Wake in the District of Arizona ranked 1st with 35 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Judge Brian Anthony Jackson in the Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge) ranked 2nd with 14 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Judge James Paul Oetken in the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) ranked 3rd with 9 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Report Generated: March 9, 2015
