Percent Change from 5 years ago (Including Magistrate Court)
-33.1
Percent Change from 5 years ago (Excluding Magistrate Court)
-32.8
Table 1. Criminal White Collar Crime Prosecutions
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during November 2022 the government reported 284 new white collar crime prosecutions.
According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 12.9 percent over the previous month.
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 (-12.2%).
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 33.1 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.
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 November 2022 was for "Fraud-Other", accounting for 20.4 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Federal Program" (14.4%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (12.3%), "Fraud-Other Business" (8.5%), "Fraud-Tax" (8.5%), "Fraud-Health Care" (7.7%), "Fraud-Consumer" (6%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (4.9%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (4.2%), "Fraud-Securities" (2.8%).
See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for white collar crime prosecutions in November 2022
was FBI accounting for 40 percent of prosecutions referred.
Other agencies with substantial numbers of white collar crime referrals were:
IRS (11% ), Postal (10%), DHS (7%), HHS (6%).
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 November 2022, 19 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 November the most frequently cited lead charge was
Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349 involving "Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy". This was the lead charge
for 31.6 percent of all magistrate filings in November.
White Collar Crime Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In November 2022, 265 defendants in new cases
for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during November there
were an additional 25 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 November.
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 November 2022.
"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 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd were "Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 and "Bank Fraud" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344.
"Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 was ranked 7 a year ago, while it was ranked 8 five years ago."Bank Fraud" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest
increase in prosecutions — up 41 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 641
that involves " Public money, property or records ".
Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 35.4 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 44.6 percent — was
" Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 ).
This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 54.5 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In November 2022 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 104.9 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.
Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of Washington, D.C. (Washington) — with 1433 prosecutions as compared with 104.9 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during November 2022.
The District of Alaska ranked 2nd.
Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were
Southern District of California (San Diego), now ranked
9th
, and Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth)
at 6th
In the same order, these districts ranked 27th and 30th one year ago and 30th 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 — 125 percent — was
Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth).
Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 104 percent — was
Southern District of California (San Diego).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the
largest drop in the rate of white collar crime prosecutions — 53.6 percent — was
Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
This was the same district that had the largest increase — 78.1 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 November 2022 are shown in Table 4.
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 3 judges were from other districts.
Judge Darrin Phillip Gayles in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 1st with 11 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judge Denise Page Hood in the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) ranked 2nd with 8 defendants in white collar crime cases.
Judge Thomas Lee Robinson Parker in the Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 3rd with 7 defendants in white collar crime cases.