White Collar Crime Prosecutions for October 2014
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during October 2014 the government reported 482 new white collar crime prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 20.7 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 (-15.3%). 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 16.8 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 9 percent instead of 16.8 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 October 2014 was for "Fraud-Federal Program", accounting for 14.7 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Other" (14.1%), "Fraud-Tax" (13.7%), " Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (9.5%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (6.6%), "Fraud-Other Business" (6%), "Fraud-Health Care" (5.8%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (5.8%), "Fraud-Consumer" (4.6%), "Fraud-Computer" (3.9%), "Fraud-Securities" (3.7%), " Fraud-Other Investment" (2.7%), "Fraud-Mortgage" (2.3%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime prosecutions in October 2014 was FBI accounting for 28 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime referrals were: IRS (19% ), SecServ (12%), Postal (7%), DHS (7%). See Figure 3.
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In October 2014, 51 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 October the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 involving "Aggravated Identity Theft". This was the lead charge for 13.7 percent of all magistrate filings in October.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices" (13.7%), "18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television" (11.8%), " 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" (9.8%).
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In October 2014, 431 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during October there were an additional 41 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 October.
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 October 2014.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 42 1 1 3 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 38 2 9 8 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 36 3 4 9 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 36 3 5 2 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 31 5 6 4 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 31 5 3 5 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 26 7 2 1 More 18 USC 1347 - Health Care Fraud 20 8 7 5 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 20 8 11 10 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 17 10 8 7 More 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 17 10 10 11 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 "Fraud and related activity - id documents" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028. "Fraud and related activity - id documents" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 was ranked 9 a year ago, while it was ranked 8 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd were "Public money, property or records" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 and "Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341. "Public money, property or records" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 9 five years ago."Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five year s ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 3.2 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343 that involves " Fraud by wire, radio, or television ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 63.4 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Public money, property or records " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 34.9 percent — was " Attempt to evade or defeat tax " (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 50.6 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Bank Fraud " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In October 2014 the Justice Department said the government brought 180.5 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 Ill, S 842 9 1 32 48 More Tenn, W 683 9 2 59 24 More N. Y., S 605 26 3 2 5 More Miss, S 578 9 4 17 17 More Ken, E 552 10 5 57 19 More Miss, N 537 5 6 66 77 More Virg, W 497 9 7 55 64 More Fla, S 467 27 8 1 1 More Wisc, E 461 13 9 51 58 More Penn, E 456 22 10 10 4 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of Illinois (East St. Louis) — with 842 prosecutions as compared with 180.5 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during October 2014.
The Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 2nd.
Southern District of New York (Manhattan) is now ranking 3rd. The Southern District of New York (Manhattan) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson), now ranked 4th , and Southern District of Illinois (East St. Louis) at 1st In the same order, these districts ranked 17th and 32nd one year ago and 17th and 48th 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 — 100 percent — was Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 109.1 percent — was Northern District of Mississippi (Oxford).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of white collar crime prosecutions — 45.9 percent — was Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson). But over the past five years, Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) showed the largest drop — 49 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 October 2014 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Clevert, Charles N., Jr. Wisc, E 10 1 More Van Tatenhove, Gregory Frederick Ken, E 9 2 More Rosenstengel, Nancy Jo Ill, S 8 3 More Fowlkes, John Thomas, Jr. Tenn, W 7 4 More Smith, Walter Scott, Jr. Texas, W 7 4 More Kendall, Virginia Mary Ill, N 6 6 More Ozerden, Halil Suleyman Miss, S 6 6 More Whitney, Frank DeArmon N Car, W 6 6 More Surrick, R[ichard] Barclay Penn, E 6 6 More Rosenberg, Robin Lee Fla, S 5 10 More Smith, G. R. Ga, S 5 10 More Jones, James Parker Virg, W 5 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 4 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 12 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Charles N. Clevert, Jr. in the Eastern District of Wisconsin (Milwaukee) ranked 1st with 10 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judge Gregory Frederick Van Tatenhove in the Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington) ranked 2nd with 9 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judge Nancy Jo Rosenstengel in the Southern District of Illinois (East St. Louis) ranked 3rd with 8 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Report Generated: December 11, 2014
