White Collar Crime Convictions for March 2017
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2017 the government reported 596 new white collar crime convictions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 27.6 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 convicted for 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 2017 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was down (-17.2%). Convictions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are down 34.6 percent from levels reported in 2012.
The decrease from the levels five years ago in white collar crime convictions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of white collar crime convictions 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 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 convictions of these matters in March 2017 was for "Fraud-Other", accounting for 16.8 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Fraud-Tax" (15.9%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (10.7%), "Fraud-Health Care" (9.9%), "Fraud-Federal Program" (9.2%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (9.1%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (7.7%), "Fraud-Other Business" (4.4%), "Fraud-Mortgage" (3.2%), "Fraud-Computer" (2.5%), "Fraud-Against Ins. Provider" (2.2%), "Fraud-Other Investment" (2.2%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime convictions in March 2017 was FBI accounting for 30 percent of convictions. Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime convictions were: IRS (16% ), SecServ (13%), DHS (8%), Postal (7%). See Figure 3.
White Collar Crime Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In March 2017, 13 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 March the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 involving "Aggravated Identity Theft". This was the lead charge for 46.2 percent of all magistrate convictions in March.
White Collar Crime Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In March 2017, 583 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during March there were an additional 0 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 March.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of white collar crime matters filed in U.S. District Court during March 2017.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 63 1 1 3 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 49 2 3 2 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 48 3 5 8 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 45 4 8 6 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 44 5 7 7 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 40 6 2 1 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 38 7 3 4 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 33 8 6 5 More 18 USC 1347 - Health Care Fraud 27 9 9 9 More 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 25 10 10 11 More Table 2. Top Charges for Convictions
"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 3 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341. "Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 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 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 8 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions — up 200 percent — compared to one year ago was that involves " ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 11.7 percent — was registered for convictions under " Fraud and False statements " (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago — down 32.5 percent — was " Bank Fraud " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 57.7 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In March 2017 the Justice Department said the government obtained 217.7 white collar crime convictions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of white collar crime convictions in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of convictions per capita for these matters last month are shown in Table 3. Districts must have at least 5 white collar crime convictions to receive a ranking.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago W Virg, N 1,288 10 1 70 68 More Fla, S 1,110 67 2 1 1 More Mich, E 1,043 56 3 9 36 More Ala, S 854 6 4 64 25 More Ga, S 843 11 5 54 49 More Mo, E 736 18 6 4 10 More Ala, M 624 6 7 88 68 More Tenn, W 610 8 8 37 43 More Ind, S 565 19 9 34 45 More Idaho 508 7 10 54 82 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) — with 1288 convictions as compared with 217.7 convictions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during March 2017.
The Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 2nd. The Southern District of Florida (Miami) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 for most frequent use five years ago.
Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) is now ranking 3rd. The Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) was ranked 9 a year ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis), now ranked 9th , and Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) at 8th In the same order, these districts ranked 34th and 37th one year ago and 45th and 43rd five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of white collar crime convictions compared to one year ago — 60.6 percent — was Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 177.8 percent — was Idaho .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of white collar crime convictions — 46.9 percent — was Western District of Tennessee (Memphis). But over the past five years, Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) showed the largest drop — 78.8 percent.
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 resulting in convictions of this type during March 2017 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Battani, Marianne O. Mich, E 14 1 More Young, Richard L. Ind, S 13 2 More Gayles, Darrin Phillip Fla, S 11 3 More Ungaro, Ursula Mancusi Fla, S 8 4 More Delgado Hernandez, Pedro Alberto Puer Rico 8 4 More Covington, Virginia Maria Hernandez Fla, M 7 6 More Williams, Kathleen Mary Fla, S 6 7 More Scola, Robert Nichols, Jr. Fla, S 6 7 More Baker, R. Stan Ga, S 6 7 More Lodge, Edward J. Idaho 6 7 More Murphy, Stephen Joseph, III Mich, E 6 7 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 9 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of white collar crime convictions per capita, while the remaining 2 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Marianne O. Battani in the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) ranked 1st with 14 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Judge Richard L. Young in the Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis) ranked 2nd with 13 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Judge Darrin Phillip Gayles in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 3rd with 11 convicted in white collar crime convictions.
Report Generated: May 18, 2017
