White Collar Crime Prosecutions for June 2014
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during June 2014 the government reported 582 new white collar crime prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 27.8 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 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 2014 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-6.6%). 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 11.4 percent from levels reported in 2009.
The dip in these cases is partly related to increases in the matters filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. If magistrate cases are excluded and only Federal District Court cases are counted, the overall decrease in white collar crime prosecutions is 5 percent instead of 11.4 percent. The evidence suggests that part of the difference may be the result of improvements in the recording of the magistrate cases by the Justice Department.
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.
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 June 2014 was for "Fraud-Federal Program", accounting for 18.4 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Other" (18%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (11.3%) , "Fraud-Tax" (10.8%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (9.5%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (5.2%), "Fraud-Health Care" (4.5%), "Fraud-Other Business" (4.1%), "Fraud-Other Investment" (2.9%), "Fraud-Computer" (2.4%), "Fraud-Against Ins. Provider" (2.2%) , "Fraud-Mortgage" (2.2%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime prosecutions in June 2014 was FBI accounting for 38 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime referrals were: SecServ (14% ), IRS (11%), DHS (9%), Postal (7%). See Figure 3.
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In June 2014, 82 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 June the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 involving "Aggravated Identity Theft". This was the lead charge for 18.3 percent of all magistrate filings in June.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices" (15.9%), "18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy" (12.2%), "18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television" (11 %), "18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records" (8.5%), "18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud" (7.3%).
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In June 2014, 500 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during June there were an additional 48 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 June.
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 June 2014.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 126 1 1 3 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 43 2 5 4 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 39 3 2 1 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 38 4 6 11 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 35 5 7 7 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 32 6 4 2 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 29 7 3 6 More 18 USC 1347 - Health Care Fraud 21 8 9 9 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 19 9 8 5 More 18 USC 1028A - Aggravated Identity Theft 14 10 13 15 More 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 14 10 10 10 More 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 3 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. "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Bank Fraud" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344. "Bank Fraud" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 24.9 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 — 132.1 % — 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 33.5 percent — was " Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 40.4 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In June 2014 the Justice Department said the government brought 209.5 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 Ga, S 4,756 61 1 31 46 More Ill, S 2,246 24 2 53 54 More W Virg, N 1,037 8 3 76 72 More Ala, S 863 6 4 24 45 More New Hamp 727 8 5 63 49 More N. Y., S 722 31 6 2 4 More Fla, S 571 33 7 1 1 More Ala, M 523 5 8 34 81 More Texas, E 522 16 9 16 20 More Nebraska 517 8 10 19 43 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of Georgia (Savannah) — with 4756 prosecutions as compared with 209.5 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during June 2014.
The Southern District of Illinois (East St. Louis) ranked 2nd.
Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Texas (Tyler), now ranked 9th , and Nebraska at 10th In the same order, these districts ranked 16th and 19th one year ago and 20th and 43rd 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 — 134.6 percent — was Southern District of Illinois (East St. Louis). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 300 percent — was Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of white collar crime prosecutions — 54.4 percent — was Eastern District of Texas (Tyler). This was the same district that had the largest increase — 46.6 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 June 2014 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Smith, G. R. Ga, S 56 1 81 22 More Altonaga, Cecilia M. Fla, S 10 2 81 52 More Heartfield, Thad Texas, E 10 2 21 52 More Hurley, Daniel T. K. Fla, S 9 4 272 22 More Pratt, Tanya Walton Ind, S 7 5 53 - More Daniels, George B. N. Y., S 7 5 376 205 More Herndon, David R. Ill, S 6 7 272 205 More Oetken, James Paul N. Y., S 6 7 178 - More Barbadoro, Paul J. New Hamp 6 7 209 38 More Edenfield, Berry Avant Ga, S 5 10 26 606 More Reagan, Michael Joseph Ill, S 5 10 178 120 More Table 4. Top Ten 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 1 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge G. R. Smith in the Southern District of Georgia (Savannah) ranked 1st with 56 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judges Cecilia M. Altonaga in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) and Thad Heartfield in the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) ranked 2nd with 10 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Report Generated: September 16, 2014
