White Collar Crime Prosecutions for May 2014
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during May 2014 the government reported 778 new white collar crime prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 14.7 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 (-8.6%). 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 7.3 percent from levels reported in 2009.
The leveling out 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 2.6 percent instead of 7.3 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 leveling out 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 May 2014 was for "Fraud-Other", accounting for 14.8 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Health Care" (13.4%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (11.6%), " Fraud-Federal Program" (10.9%), "Fraud-Tax" (10.7%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (8.5%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (5.4%), "Fraud-Other Business" (4.5%), "Fraud-Mortgage" (4.4%), "Fraud-Computer" (3.2%), "Fraud-Federal Procurement" (2.6%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime prosecutions in May 2014 was FBI accounting for 29 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime referrals were: IRS (15% ), DHS (13%), SecServ (11%), Postal (8%). See Figure 3.
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In May 2014, 101 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 May the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 involving "Aggravated Identity Theft". This was the lead charge for 14.9 percent of all magistrate filings in May.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud" (14.9%), "42 USC 408 - Fed Old Age, Survivors & Disab Insur -Penalties" (13.9%), "18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices" (11.9%), " 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents" (7.9%), "18 USC 1920 - False statement - Fed employee's compensation" (7.9%).
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In May 2014, 677 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during May there were an additional 42 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 May.
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 May 2014.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 78 1 1 3 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 74 2 4 8 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 66 3 2 1 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 59 4 3 6 More 18 USC 1347 - Health Care Fraud 46 5 9 11 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 41 6 5 4 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 40 7 8 5 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 31 8 6 2 More 18 USC 286 - Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims 27 9 12 16 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 27 9 7 7 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 "Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349. "Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349 was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 8 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 21.8 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 286 that involves " Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 123.6 percent — was registered for prosecutions 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 prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 30.2 percent — was " Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 46.2 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In May 2014 the Justice Department said the government brought 274.9 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 Ala, M 1,777 17 1 53 82 More Ala, S 1,438 10 2 27 60 More Fla, S 1,420 82 3 1 1 More Ill, S 1,404 15 4 53 63 More W Virg, S 1,291 10 5 72 60 More Nebraska 970 15 6 17 45 More Ala, N 803 19 7 19 26 More N. Y., S 722 31 8 2 3 More Tenn, M 672 13 9 53 67 More Miss, S 642 10 10 41 12 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery) — with 1777 prosecutions as compared with 274.9 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during May 2014.
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 1 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Nebraska , now ranked 6th , and Northern District of Alabama (Birmingham) at 7th In the same order, these districts ranked 17th and 19th one year ago and 45th and 26th 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 — 105.7 percent — was Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 387.5 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 — 32.7 percent — was Southern District of Alabama (Mobile). But over the past five years, Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston) showed the largest drop — 45 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 May 2014 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Moore, Kevin Michael Fla, S 16 1 More Watkins, William Keith Ala, M 13 2 More Lenard, Joan A. Fla, S 13 2 More Borman, Paul D. Mich, E 11 4 More Brimmer, Philip A. Colorado 10 5 More Campbell, Todd J. Tenn, M 10 5 More Scola, Robert Nichols, Jr. Fla, S 9 7 More Cooke, Marcia G. Fla, S 8 8 More Spatt, Arthur Donald N. Y., E 8 8 More Blackburn, Sharon Lovelace Ala, N 7 10 More Presnell, Gregory A. Fla, M 7 10 More Williams, Kathleen Mary Fla, S 7 10 More Gwin, James S. Ohio, N 7 10 More Haggerty, Ancer Lee Oregon 7 10 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 8 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 6 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 14 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Kevin Michael Moore in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 1st with 16 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judges William Keith Watkins in the Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery) and Joan A. Lenard in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 2nd with 13 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Report Generated: August 29, 2014
