White Collar Crime Prosecutions for August 2019
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during August 2019 the government reported 392 new white collar crime prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 2.6 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 2019 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-17.2%). 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 32.5 percent from levels reported in 2014.
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.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in White Collar Crime Prosecutions
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 August 2019 was for "Fraud-Other", accounting for 21.9 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Financial Institution" (13.3%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (10.7%), "Fraud-Federal Program" (10.2%), "Fraud-Health Care" (7.4%), "Fraud-Tax" (6.6%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (6.4%), "Fraud-Other Business" (4.6%), "Fraud-Computer" (4.3%), "Fraud-Intellectual Property Violations" (2.6%), "Fraud-Consumer" (2.3%), "Fraud-Securities" (2.3%), "Fraud-Telemarketing" (2%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime prosecutions in August 2019 was FBI accounting for 34 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime referrals were: SecServ (13% ), SSA (10%), DHS (9%), IRS (8%). See Figure 3.
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In August 2019, 42 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 August the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 involving "Bank Fraud". This was the lead charge for 23.8 percent of all magistrate filings in August.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television" (21.4%), "18 USC 1028A - Aggravated Identity Theft" (16.7%), "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (11.9%).
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In August 2019, 350 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during August there were an additional 21 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 August.
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 August 2019.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 71 1 1 1 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 33 2 3 4 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 31 3 6 5 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 20 4 10 7 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 19 5 5 6 More 18 USC 1028A - Aggravated Identity Theft 17 6 11 13 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 15 7 7 3 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 14 8 9 8 More 18 USC 1347 - Health Care Fraud 12 9 4 9 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 12 9 2 2 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 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Bank Fraud" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344. "Bank Fraud" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Public money, property or records" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 641. "Public money, property or records" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 was ranked 6 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 200 percent — compared to one year ago was that involves " ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 44.6 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Aggravated Identity Theft " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 49.5 percent — was " Health Care Fraud " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1347 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 62.4 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Fraud and related activity - id documents " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In August 2019 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 136.7 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 Montana 685 6 1 69 56 More R. I. 566 5 2 61 64 More Ark, E 439 6 3 41 70 More Idaho 419 6 4 66 75 More Fla, S 339 21 5 1 1 More Mo, E 328 8 6 9 18 More Penn, W 322 10 7 16 20 More Kansas 288 7 8 27 25 More N. Y., S 272 12 9 2 2 More Penn, E 265 13 10 11 6 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of Montana — with 685 prosecutions as compared with 136.7 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during August 2019.
The District of Rhode Island ranked 2nd.
Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), now ranked 10th , and Western District of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) at 7th In the same order, these districts ranked 11th and 16th one year ago and 6th and 20th 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 — 86.7 percent — was Rhode Island . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 66.7 percent — was Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of white collar crime prosecutions — 58 percent — was Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis). This was the same district that had the largest increase — 49.1 percent — when compared with five years ago.
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 August 2019 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Ellis, Thomas Selby, III Virg, E 8 1 More Ungaro, Ursula Mancusi Fla, S 6 2 More Broomes, John Wesley Kansas 6 2 More Hurley, Denis Reagan N. Y., E 5 4 More Mendez, John A. Cal, E 4 5 More Davis, Brian Jordan Fla, M 4 5 More Brann, Matthew William Penn, M 4 5 More Delgado-Colon, Aida M. Puer Rico 4 5 More McConnell, John James, Jr. R. I. 4 5 More Godbey, David C. Texas, N 4 5 More Bennett, Alfred Homer Texas, S 4 5 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 3 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 8 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Thomas Selby Ellis, III in the Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria) ranked 1st with 8 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judges Ursula Mancusi Ungaro in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) and John Wesley Broomes in the District of Kansas ranked 2nd with 6 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Report Generated: September 19, 2019
