Prosecutions for February 2024
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2024 the government reported 49 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Internal Revenue Service. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 8.9 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged 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 (15.1%). 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 23.8 percent from levels reported in 2019.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Prosecutions
The decrease from the levels five years ago in prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of 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.
Cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
The largest number of prosecutions of these matters in February 2024 was for "Fraud-Tax", accounting for 57.1 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (16.3%), "Fraud-Federal Program" (8.2%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (4.1%), "Fraud-Other Investment" (4.1%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (2%), "Fraud-Other" (2%), "Money Laundering-Drug" (2%), "Money Laundering-Other" (2%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In February 2024, 7 defendants in 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 286 involving "Conspiracy to defraud the Government claims". This was the lead charge for 57.1 percent of all magistrate filings in February.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In February 2024, 42 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during February 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 February.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during February 2024 referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 7 1 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 7 1 More 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 7 1 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 4 4 More 26 USC 7202 - Willful failure to collect or pay over tax 4 4 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 2 6 More 18 USC 1960 - Prohibition of illegal money transmitting business 2 6 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 1 8 More 26 USC 7212 - Attempts to interfere with admin of tax laws 1 8 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Fraud by wire, radio, or television" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343), "Attempt to evade or defeat tax" (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201) and "Fraud and False statements" (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206) were the most frequent recorded lead charges.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In February 2024 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 15.5 prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the number of 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 District of Minnesota, Eastern District of North Carolina (Raleigh), District of New Jersey and Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) — with 4 prosecutions — were the most active during February 2024.
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 crime cases of this type during February 2024 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Selna, James V. Cal, C 2 1 More Moore, Kevin Michael Fla, S 2 1 More Kugler, Robert B. N. J. 2 1 More Kearney, Mark A. Penn, E 2 1 More Fitzgerald, Michael Walter Cal, C 1 5 More Thurston, Jennifer L. Cal, E 1 5 More Jung, William Frederic Fla, M 1 5 More Moreno, Federico A. Fla, S 1 5 More Woodcock, John A., Jr. Maine 1 5 More Menendez, Katherine M. Minnesota 1 5 More Arleo, Madeline C. N. J. 1 5 More Shipp, Michael A. N. J. 1 5 More Amon, Carol Bagley N. Y., E 1 5 More Reyes, Ramon E., Jr. N. Y., E 1 5 More Chen, Pamela Ki Mai N. Y., E 1 5 More Seibel, Cathy N. Y., S 1 5 More Roman, Nelson Stephen N. Y., S 1 5 More Helmick, Jeffrey James Ohio, N 1 5 More Erwin, Shon T. Okla, W 1 5 More Pitman, Robert Texas, W 1 5 More Kleeh, Thomas Shawn W Virg, N 1 5 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 16 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings , while the remaining 5 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 21 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judges James V. Selna in the Central District of California (Los Angeles), Kevin Michael Moore in the Southern District of Florida (Miami), Robert B. Kugler in the District of New Jersey and Mark A. Kearney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) ranked 1st with 2 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: April 3, 2024
