Percent Change from 5 years ago (Including Magistrate Court)
-26.0
Percent Change from 5 years ago (Excluding Magistrate Court)
-28.0
Table 1. Criminal White Collar Crime Prosecutions
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during May 2021 the government reported 319 new white collar crime prosecutions.
According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 43.5 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.
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 2021 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in
the previous year, the number of filings was up (21.3%).
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 26 percent from levels reported in 2016.
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.
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 May 2021 was for "Fraud-Other", accounting for 25.4 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Federal Program" (15.4%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (12.2%), "Fraud-Tax" (9.7%), "Fraud-Health Care" (7.5%), "Fraud-Other Business" (6.6%), "Fraud-Computer" (4.4%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (4.4%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (4.1%), "Fraud-Corporate" (3.1%).
See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime prosecutions in May 2021
was FBI accounting for 37 percent of prosecutions referred.
Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime referrals were:
IRS (15% ), SecServ (10%), Postal (10%), SSA (7%).
See Figure 3.
Figure 2. Specific Types of Prosecutions
Figure 3. Prosecutions by Investigative Agency
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In May 2021, 35 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 May 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 31.4 percent of all magistrate filings in May.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud" (20%).
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In May 2021, 284 defendants in new cases
for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during May there
were an additional 38 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 May.
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 May 2021.
"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 2 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "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 7 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest
increase in prosecutions — up 87.3 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341
that involves " Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles ".
Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 26.2 percent — was registered for
prosecutions under " Fraud by wire, radio, or television " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest
decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 22.3 percent — was
" Fraud and related activity - access devices " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1029 ).
This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 62.3 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In May 2021 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 117.7 white collar crime prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the 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 of this type last month are shown in Table 3.
The Southern District of New York (Manhattan) and Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria) — with 19 prosecutions — were the most active during May 2021.
Southern District of Florida (Miami) is 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 white collar crime crime cases of this type during May 2021 are shown in Table 4.
A total of 10 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of white collar crime filings , while the remaining 7 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 17 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Robert James Jonker in the Western District of Michigan (Grand Rapids) ranked 1st with 9 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judges Analisa Nadine Torres in the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) and Samuel Frederick Biery, Jr. in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 7 defendants in white collar crime cases.