Official Corruption Convictions for January 2025
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2025 the government reported 31 new official corruption convictions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 72.2 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants convicted for official corruption-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 2025 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was up (2.9%). 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 8.8 percent from levels reported in 2020.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Official Corruption Convictions
The decrease from the levels five years ago in official corruption convictions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of official corruption 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 official corruption, cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
Case types within official corruption are
Federal Corruption - Procurement
Federal Corruption - Program
Federal Corruption - Law Enforcement
Federal Corruption - Other
State Corruption
Local Corruption
Other Public Corruption
The largest number of convictions of these matters in January 2025 was for "Corruption(Govt Off)-Local", accounting for 45.2 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Corruption(Govt Off)-Fed Law Enforcement" (22.6%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-Fed Other" (12.9%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-Other" (9.7%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-State" (6.5%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-Fed Procurement" (3.2%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for official corruption convictions in January 2025 was FBI accounting for 39 percent of convictions. Other agencies with substantial numbers of official corruption convictions were: USAO (23% ), Justice Other (13%), Local (6%), Postal (6%). See Figure 3.
Official Corruption Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In January 2025, no defendants in official corruption cases for these matters were convicted 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.
Official Corruption Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In January 2025, 31 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during January 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 January.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of official corruption matters filed in U.S. District Court during January 2025.
Lead Charge Count Rank 18 USC 666 - Theft or bribery in programs receiving Fed funds 10 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 4 2 More 18 USC 201 - Bribery of public officials and witnesses 3 3 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 3 3 More 18 USC 1791 - Providing or possessing contraband in prison 3 3 More 18 USC 242 - Deprivation of rights under color of law 2 6 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 1 7 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 1 7 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 1 7 More 18 USC 1012 - Fraud - HUD transactions 1 7 More 18 USC 1519 - Destruct, alter, falsify records in fed. investigations and bankruptcy 1 7 More 18 USC 1703 - Delay or destruction of mail or newspapers 1 7 More Table 2. Top Charges for Convictions
"Theft or bribery in programs receiving Fed funds" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 666) was the most frequent recorded lead charge.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846.
Ranked 3rd were "Bribery of public officials and witnesses" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 201, "Fraud by wire, radio, or television" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343 and "Providing or possessing contraband in prison" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1791.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In January 2025 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government obtained 11.1 official corruption convictions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the number of official corruption convictions in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of convictions of this type last month are shown in Table 3.
Judicial District Count Rank N. Y., S 15 1 More Ind, S 2 2 More Cal, C 1 3 More Fla, M 1 3 More Ga, N 1 3 More Ind, N 1 3 More La, W 1 3 More Mich, E 1 3 More N. Y., E 1 3 More Ohio, S 1 3 More Penn, E 1 3 More S Car 1 3 More Tenn, M 1 3 More Texas, W 1 3 More Virg, E 1 3 More W Virg, S 1 3 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts
The Southern District of New York (Manhattan) — with 15 convictions — was the most active during January 2025.
The Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis) ranked 2nd.
Central District of California (Los Angeles), Middle District of Florida (Tampa), Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta), Northern District of Indiana (South Bend), Western District of Louisiana (Shreveport), Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit), Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn), Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati), Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), District of South Carolina, Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville), Western District of Texas (San Antonio), Eastern Di are 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 official corruption crime cases resulting in convictions of this type during January 2025 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Carter, Andrew L., Jr. N. Y., S 3 1 More Berger, Wendy Williams Fla, M 1 2 More Simon, Philip P. Ind, N 1 2 More Pratt, Tanya Walton Ind, S 1 2 More Brookman, Matthew P. Ind, S 1 2 More Seybert, Joanna N. Y., E 1 2 More Buchwald, Naomi Reice N. Y., S 1 2 More Daniels, George B. N. Y., S 1 2 More Kaplan, Lewis A. N. Y., S 1 2 More Swain, Laura Taylor N. Y., S 1 2 More Castel, P. Kevin N. Y., S 1 2 More Furman, Jesse Matthew N. Y., S 1 2 More Schofield, Lorna Gail N. Y., S 1 2 More Torres, Analisa Nadine N. Y., S 1 2 More Parker, Katharine H. N. Y., S 1 2 More Vyskocil, Mary Kay N. Y., S 1 2 More Sargus, Edmund A., Jr. Ohio, S 1 2 More Trauger, Aleta Arthur Tenn, M 1 2 More Payne, Robert E. Virg, E 1 2 More Berger, Irene Cornelia W Virg, S 1 2 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
All 20 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of official corruption convictions. (Because of ties, there were a total of 20 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr. in the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) ranked 1st with 3 convicted in official corruption convictions.
Judges Wendy Williams Berger in the Middle District of Florida (Tampa), Philip P. Simon in the Northern District of Indiana (South Bend), Tanya Walton Pratt in the Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis), Matthew P. Brookman in the Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis), Joanna Seybert in the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn), Naomi Reice Buchwald in the Southern District of New York (Manhattan), George B. Daniels in the Southern District of New York (Manhattan), Lewis A. Kaplan in the S ranked 2nd with 1 convicted in official corruption convictions.
Report Generated: March 12, 2025
