Official Corruption Prosecutions for February 2023
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2023 the government reported 27 new official corruption prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 12.5 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged with official corruption-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 2023 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-14.2%). 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 11.8 percent from levels reported in 2018.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Official Corruption Prosecutions
The decrease from the levels five years ago in official corruption prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of official corruption 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 official corruption, cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
Case types within official corruption are
Federal Corruption - Procurement
Federal Corruption - Program
Federal Corruption - Law Enforcement
Federal Corruption - Other
State Corruption
Local Corruption
Other Public Corruption
The largest number of prosecutions of these matters in February 2023 was for "Corruption(Govt Off)-Fed Program", accounting for 44.4 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Corruption(Govt Off)-Local" (18.5%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-Fed Other" (14.8%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-Other" (11.1%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-Fed Law Enforcement" (3.7%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-Fed Procurement" (3.7%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-State" (3.7%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for official corruption prosecutions in February 2023 was FBI accounting for 59 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of official corruption referrals were: Postal (15% ), BOP (11%), Justice Other (7%), SSA (4%). See Figure 3.
Official Corruption Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In February 2023, 5 defendants in official corruption 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 February the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1791 involving "Providing or possessing contraband in prison". This was the lead charge for 60 percent of all magistrate filings in February.
Official Corruption Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In February 2023, 22 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during February there were an additional 2 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 February.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of official corruption matters filed in U.S. District Court during February 2023.
Lead Charge Count Rank 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 11 1 More 18 USC 201 - Bribery of public officials and witnesses 4 2 More 18 USC 666 - Theft or bribery in programs receiving Fed funds 2 3 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 1 4 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 1 4 More 18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements or entries generally 1 4 More 18 USC 1709 - Theft of mail matter by officer or employee 1 4 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 1 4 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 1 4 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 1 4 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.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Bribery of public officials and witnesses" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 201.
Ranked 3rd was "Theft or bribery in programs receiving Fed funds" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 666.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In February 2023 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 8.7 official corruption prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the number of official corruption prosecutions that are filed in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of prosecutions of this type last month are shown in Table 3.
The Northern District of Mississippi (Oxford) — with 10 prosecutions — was the most active during February 2023.
The District of New Jersey ranked 2nd.
District of Arizona, Northern District of Florida (Pensacola), Southern District of Florida (Miami), Northern District of Indiana (South Bend), District of Kansas, Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington), Western District of Louisiana (Shreveport), District of Maryland, Western District of Missouri (Kansas City), Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn), Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland) and Eastern District of Wisconsin (Milwaukee) are now ranking 3rd.
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 official corruption crime cases of this type during February 2023 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Davidson, Glen H. Miss, N 10 1 More Altman, Roy Kalman Fla, S 1 2 More Miller, Robert Lowell, Jr. Ind, N 1 2 More Caldwell, Karen K. Ken, E 1 2 More Kay, Kathleen La, W 1 2 More Bredar, James Kelleher Maryland 1 2 More Bough, Stephen Rogers Mo, W 1 2 More Sheridan, Peter G. N. J. 1 2 More Arleo, Madeline C. N. J. 1 2 More Vitaliano, Eric Nicholas N. Y., E 1 2 More Pepper, Pamela Wisc, E 1 2 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
All 11 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of official corruption filings. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Glen H. Davidson in the Northern District of Mississippi (Oxford) ranked 1st with 10 defendants in official corruption cases.
Judges Roy Kalman Altman in the Southern District of Florida (Miami), Robert Lowell Miller, Jr. in the Northern District of Indiana (South Bend), Karen K. Caldwell in the Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington), Kathleen Kay in the Western District of Louisiana (Shreveport), James Kelleher Bredar in the District of Maryland, Stephen Rogers Bough in the Western District of Missouri (Kansas City), Peter G. Sheridan in the District of New Jersey, Madeline C. Arleo in the District of New Jersey, Eric Nich ranked 2nd with 1 defendants in official corruption cases.
Report Generated: April 6, 2023
