White Collar Crime Convictions for March 2015
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2015 the government reported 703 new white collar crime convictions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 37 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 down (-7.5%). 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 14 percent from levels reported in 2010.
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 convictions is 2.5 percent instead of 14 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 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 March 2015 was for "Fraud-Other", accounting for 19.3 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Fraud-Federal Program" (12.2%), "Fraud-Tax" (11.8%), " Fraud-Financial Institution" (11.4%), "Fraud-Health Care" (9.2%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (8.8%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (6.5%), "Fraud-Mortgage" (5.8%), "Fraud-Other Business" (3.7%), "Fraud-Securities" (2.7%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime convictions in March 2015 was FBI accounting for 28 percent of convictions. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime convictions were: IRS (14% ), SecServ (14%), DHS (9%), HHS (6%). See Figure 3.
White Collar Crime Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In March 2015, 20 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 March the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 involving "Aggravated Identity Theft". This was the lead charge for 90 percent of all magistrate convictions in March.
White Collar Crime Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In March 2015, 683 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during March 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 March.
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 March 2015.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 94 1 4 4 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 79 2 1 3 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 55 3 2 1 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 45 4 6 8 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 44 5 5 10 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 39 6 3 2 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 36 7 8 5 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 31 8 7 6 More 18 USC 1347 - Health Care Fraud 30 9 9 7 More 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 24 10 10 9 More Table 2. Top Charges for Convictions
"Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371) was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "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 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 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 convictions — up 24.9 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 — 121.4 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 30.1 percent — was " Bank Fraud " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 48.1 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In March 2015 the Justice Department said the government obtained 261.1 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 Ga, S 1,949 25 1 36 32 More Ala, N 973 23 2 33 52 More N. Y., S 884 38 3 4 3 More Ala, S 863 6 4 14 54 More W Virg, N 777 6 5 79 73 More Fla, S 744 43 6 1 1 More Montana 716 6 7 69 60 More N Car, W 667 17 8 35 35 More R. I. 571 5 9 66 66 More Penn, E 518 25 10 6 21 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of Georgia (Savannah) — with 1949 convictions as compared with 261.1 convictions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during March 2015.
The Northern District of Alabama (Birmingham) ranked 2nd.
Southern District of New York (Manhattan) is now ranking 3rd. The Southern District of New York (Manhattan) was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Southern District of Alabama (Mobile), now ranked 4th , and Northern District of Alabama (Birmingham) at 2nd In the same order, these districts ranked 14th and 33rd one year ago and 54th and 52nd 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 — 90.9 percent — was Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 173.6 percent — was Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of white collar crime convictions — 31.1 percent — was Southern District of Alabama (Mobile). But over the past five years, Southern District of Florida (Miami) showed the largest drop — 38.6 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 March 2015 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Moore, William Theodore, Jr. Ga, S 22 1 507 28 More Blackburn, Sharon Lovelace Ala, N 20 2 218 475 More Castel, P. Kevin N. Y., S 18 3 667 357 More Gelpi, Gustavo Antonio, Jr. Puer Rico 15 4 91 156 More Moore, Kevin Michael Fla, S 9 5 17 21 More Totenberg, Amy Mil Ga, N 9 5 91 - More Miller, Gray Hampton Texas, S 8 7 507 268 More Jonker, Robert James Mich, W 6 8 290 357 More Voorhees, Richard Lesley N Car, W 6 8 374 193 More Conrad, Robert James, Jr. N Car, W 6 8 290 268 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 6 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.
Judge William Theodore Moore, Jr. in the Southern District of Georgia (Savannah) ranked 1st with 22 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn in the Northern District of Alabama (Birmingham) ranked 2nd with 20 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Judge P. Kevin Castel in the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) ranked 3rd with 18 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Report Generated: May 11, 2015
