Official Corruption Prosecutions for September 2024
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during September 2024 the government reported 23 new official corruption prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 42.5 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 2024 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (93%). Prosecutions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are up 13.3 percent from levels reported in 2019.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Official Corruption Prosecutions
The increase 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 September 2024 was for "Corruption(Govt Off)-Local", accounting for 60.9 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Corruption(Govt Off)-Fed Other" (13%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-Fed Program" (8.7%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-Fed Law Enforcement" (4.3%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-Fed Procurement" (4.3%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-Other" (4.3%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-State" (4.3%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for official corruption prosecutions in September 2024 was FBI accounting for 78 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of official corruption referrals were: Postal (17% ), USAO (4%). See Figure 3.
Official Corruption Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In September 2024, 1 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 September the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 666 involving "Theft or bribery in programs receiving Fed funds". This was the lead charge for 100 percent of all magistrate filings in September.
Official Corruption Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In September 2024, 22 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during September there were an additional 1 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 September.
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 September 2024.
Lead Charge Count Rank 18 USC 666 - Theft or bribery in programs receiving Fed funds 8 1 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 8 1 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 2 3 More 18 USC 201 - Bribery of public officials and witnesses 1 4 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 1 4 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 1 4 More 18 USC 1621 - Perjury generally 1 4 More 18 USC 1711 - Misappropriation of postal funds 1 4 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Theft or bribery in programs receiving Fed funds" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 666) and "Fraud by wire, radio, or television" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343) were the most frequent recorded lead charges.
Ranked 3rd was "Hobbs Act" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1951.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In September 2024 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 8.3 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 Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) — with 5 prosecutions — was the most active during September 2024.
The Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans) ranked 2nd.
Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) and Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland) 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 September 2024 are shown in Table 4.
All 7 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of official corruption filings.
Judges Jay C. Zainey in the Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans), Rodney W. Sippel in the Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) and Solomon Oliver, Jr. in the Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland) ranked 1st with 2 defendants in official corruption cases.
Report Generated: November 1, 2024
