White Collar Crime Convictions for June 2009
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during June 2009 the government reported 736 new white collar crime convictions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 20.9% 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 2009 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was up (11.2 percent). Convictions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are up 0.5 percent from levels reported in 2004.
The leveling out 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. 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 June 2009 was for "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other", accounting for 18.9 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Fraud-Other" (14.5%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" ( 13.9%), "Fraud-Federal Program" (10.5%), "Fraud-Health Care" (9.8%), "Fraud-Tax" (7.9%), "Fraud-Other Business" (5.8%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (4.9%), "Fraud-Computer" (2.4%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime convictions in June 2009 was FBI accounting for 29 percent of convictions. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime convictions were: DHS (22% ), SecServ (11%), IRS (9%), Postal (9%). See Figure 3.
White Collar Crime Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In June 2009, 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 June the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 involving the "Aggravated identity theft". This was the lead charge for 97.2 percent of all magistrate convictions in June.
White Collar Crime Convictions in U.S. District Courts
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 June 2009.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 1344 - Bank fraud 64 1 1 1 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 56 2 2 2 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 55 3 4 5 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 41 4 3 3 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 38 5 5 9 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 35 6 6 4 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 32 7 7 6 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 30 8 13 25 More 18 USC 1347 - Health Care Fraud 27 9 8 8 More 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 24 10 9 13 More
Table 2: Top charges for convictions
"Bank fraud" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Bank fraud" (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 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341. "Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles" under 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 3rd was "Fraud by wire, radio, or television" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343. "Fraud by wire, radio, or television" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343 was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was the 5 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions—up 31.6 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349 that involves " Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase—420 %—when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago—down 13.6 percent—was Public money, property or records (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions— 39.2 percent—was for convictions where the lead charge was " Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In June 2009 the Justice Department said the government obtained 251.8 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 Miss, S 1,330 20 1 13 45 More Ala, S 1,187 8 2 30 85 More Fla, S 1,143 62 3 1 4 More Alaska 886 5 4 69 64 More Montana 760 6 5 61 64 More Ark, E 690 9 6 52 45 More W Virg, S 649 5 7 82 72 More Ohio, N 637 31 8 8 17 More La, E 603 7 9 45 53 More N Car, W 561 13 10 20 49 More
Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson)—with 1330 convictions as compared with 251.8 convictions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during June 2009.
The Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) ranked 2nd.
Southern District of Florida (Miami) is now ranking 3rd. The Southern District of Florida (Miami) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson), now ranked 1st , and Western District of North Carolina (Asheville) at 10th In the same order, these districts ranked 13th and 20th one year ago and 45th and 49th 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— 500 percent—was Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston). This was the same district that had the largest increase— 176.9 %—when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of white collar crime convictions— 46.3 percent—was Western District of North Carolina (Asheville). But over the past five years, Alaska showed the largest drop— 33.3 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 resulting in convictions of this type during June 2009 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Jordan, Adalberto Jose Fla, S 10 1 More Guirola, Louis Jr. Miss, S 8 2 More Middlebrooks, Donald M. Fla, S 7 3 More Zloch, William J. Fla, S 7 3 More Motz, J. Frederick Maryland 7 3 More Martini, William J. N. J. 7 3 More Cohn, James I. Fla, S 6 7 More Barker, Sarah Evans Ind, S 6 7 More Lenard, Joan A. Fla, S 5 9 More Boyko, Christopher A. Ohio, N 5 9 More Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 5 9 More
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 convictions 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 Adalberto Jose Jordan in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 1st with 10 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Judge Louis Guirola Jr. in the Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson) ranked 2nd with 8 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Judges Donald M. Middlebrooks in the Southern District of Florida (Miami), William J. Zloch in the Southern District of Florida (Miami), J. Frederick Motz in the District of Maryland and William J. Martini in the District of New Jersey ranked 3rd with 7 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
