White Collar Crime Prosecutions for January 2022
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2022 the government reported 221 new white collar crime prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 28.7 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 2022 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-10.3%). 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 28 percent from levels reported in 2017.
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 January 2022 was for "Fraud-Federal Program", accounting for 19.5 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Other" (19.5%), "Fraud-Health Care" (10.4%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (10%), "Fraud-Tax" (9.5%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (5.4%), "Fraud-Computer" (5%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (5%), "Fraud-Other Business" (4.1%), "Fraud-Consumer" (3.6%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime prosecutions in January 2022 was FBI accounting for 33 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime referrals were: IRS (13% ), DHS (10%), Treas. Other (10%), SecServ (6%). See Figure 3.
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In January 2022, 27 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 January the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343 involving "Fraud by wire, radio, or television". This was the lead charge for 22.2 percent of all magistrate filings in January.
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In January 2022, 194 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during January there were an additional 24 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 January.
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 January 2022.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 44 1 1 1 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 32 2 2 6 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 13 3 3 3 More 18 USC 1028A - Aggravated Identity Theft 10 4 10 11 More 18 USC 1347 - Health Care Fraud 10 4 4 8 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 9 6 7 10 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 8 7 6 5 More 26 USC 7202 - Willful failure to collect or pay over tax 8 7 18 24 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 7 9 4 4 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 7 9 9 15 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 "Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349. "Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 6 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "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 3 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 47.6 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 26 U.S.C Section 7202 that involves " Willful failure to collect or pay over tax ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 93.8 % — when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 35 percent — was " Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 46.4 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Public money, property or records " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In January 2022 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 79.7 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 Ga, N 481 28 1 3 34 More N. Y., S 300 13 2 2 2 More Fla, S 289 18 3 4 1 More Virg, E 208 11 4 19 10 More Penn, M 188 5 5 33 40 More Mo, W 187 5 6 66 35 More N. Y., E 148 10 7 20 23 More Mass 122 7 8 6 8 More Ohio, S 100 5 9 28 21 More Texas, N 80 5 10 10 5 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta) — with 481 prosecutions as compared with 79.7 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during January 2022. The Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta) was ranked 3 a year ago.
The Southern District of New York (Manhattan) ranked 2nd. The Southern District of New York (Manhattan) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 for most frequent use five years ago.
Southern District of Florida (Miami) is now ranking 3rd. The Southern District of Florida (Miami) was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria), now ranked 4th , and Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) at 7th In the same order, these districts ranked 19th and 20th one year ago and 10th and 23rd 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 — 228.6 percent — was Western District of Missouri (Kansas City). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 208 percent — was Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of white collar crime prosecutions — 65.5 percent — was Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth). This was the same district that had the largest increase — 75 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 January 2022 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Grimberg, Steven Daniel Ga, N 12 1 More Anand, Justin S. Ga, N 5 2 More Tucker, Josephine Staton Cal, C 4 3 More Smith, Rodney Fla, S 4 3 More Gibney, John Adrian, Jr. Virg, E 4 3 More Drozd, Dale A. Cal, E 3 6 More Cohen, Mark Howard Ga, N 3 6 More Sweeney, James Russell, II Ind, S 3 6 More Watters, Susan Pamela Montana 3 6 More Hendrix, James Wesley Texas, N 3 6 More Smith, Rebecca Beach Virg, E 3 6 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 7 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 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Steven Daniel Grimberg in the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta) ranked 1st with 12 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judge Justin S. Anand in the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta) ranked 2nd with 5 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judges Josephine Staton Tucker in the Central District of California (Los Angeles), Rodney Smith in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) and John Adrian Gibney, Jr. in the Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria) ranked 3rd with 4 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Report Generated: February 28, 2022
