Government Regulatory Prosecutions for March 2025
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2025 the government reported 55 new government regulatory prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 32.1 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged with government regulatory-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 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-19.2%). 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 18.1 percent from levels reported in 2020.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Government Regulatory Prosecutions
The decrease from the levels five years ago in government regulatory prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of government regulatory 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.
Within the broad category of government regulatory, cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
Case types within government regulatory are
Counterfeiting and Forgery
Customs Violations - Duty
Customs Violations - Currency
Energy Pricing and Related Fraud
Health and Safety Violations - Employees
Health and Safety Violations - General Public
Copyright Violations
Trafficking in Contraband Cigarettes
Energy Violations - Nuclear Waste Issues
Money Laundering/Structuring (Narcotics)
Money Laundering/Structuring (Other)
Export Enforcement General
Other Government Regulatory Offenses
The largest number of prosecutions of these matters in March 2025 was for "Money Laundering-Other", accounting for 36.4 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Other-Regulatory Offenses" (20%), "Money Laundering-Drug" (12.7%), "Export Enforcement General" (10.9%), "Counterfeiting and Forgery" (9.1%), "Customs-Duty Violations" (7.3%), "Customs-Currency Violations" (3.6%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for government regulatory prosecutions in March 2025 was FBI accounting for 22 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of government regulatory referrals were: DHS (16% ), Interior (13%), DEA (11%), IRS (9%). See Figure 3.
Government Regulatory Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In March 2025, 24 defendants in government regulatory 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 471 involving "Obligations or securities of United States". This was the lead charge for 20.8 percent of all magistrate filings in March.
Government Regulatory Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In March 2025, 31 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during March there were an additional 18 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 prosecutions of government regulatory matters filed in U.S. District Court during March 2025.
Lead Charge Count Rank 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 17 1 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 7 2 More 31 USC 5332 - Bulk Cash Smuggling into or out of the United States 7 2 More 18 USC 545 - Smuggling goods into the United States 5 4 More 18 USC 959 - Enlistment in foreign service 4 5 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 2 6 More 12 USC 1956 - Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements 1 7 More 18 USC 541 - Entry of goods falsely classified 1 7 More 18 USC 554 - Smuggling goods from the United States 1 7 More 18 USC 1361 - Malicious Mischief - Govrnmt property or contracts 1 7 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 1 7 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 1 7 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Laundering of monetary instruments" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956) was the most frequent recorded lead charge.
Ranked 2nd in frequency were the lead charges "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 and "Bulk Cash Smuggling into or out of the United States" under Title 31 U.S.C Section 5332.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In March 2025 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 17.6 government regulatory prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the number of government regulatory 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.
Judicial District Count Rank N. Y., E 11 1 More Arizona 8 2 More Cal, C 4 3 More Fla, S 4 3 More N. Y., S 4 3 More Texas, W 4 3 More Mo, W 3 7 More Texas, S 3 7 More Fla, M 2 9 More Cal, N 1 10 More Cal, S 1 10 More Ill, S 1 10 More N Car, E 1 10 More Oregon 1 10 More Wisc, E 1 10 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts
The Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) — with 11 prosecutions — was the most active during March 2025.
The District of Arizona ranked 2nd.
Central District of California (Los Angeles), Southern District of Florida (Miami), Southern District of New York (Manhattan) and Western District of Texas (San Antonio) 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 government regulatory crime cases of this type during March 2025 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Kays, David Gregory Mo, W 3 1 More Garaufis, Nicholas G. N. Y., E 3 1 More Tuchi, John Joseph Arizona 2 3 More Altman, Roy Kalman Fla, S 2 3 More Vitaliano, Eric Nicholas N. Y., E 2 3 More Koeltl, John George N. Y., S 2 3 More Preska, Loretta A. N. Y., S 2 3 More Chen, Edward Milton Cal, N 1 8 More Presnell, Gregory A. Fla, M 1 8 More Jung, William Frederic Fla, M 1 8 More Moreno, Federico A. Fla, S 1 8 More Becerra, Jacqueline Fla, S 1 8 More Rosenstengel, Nancy Jo Ill, S 1 8 More Irizarry, Dora L. N. Y., E 1 8 More Bulsara, Sanket J. N. Y., E 1 8 More Simon, Michael Howard Oregon 1 8 More Hanen, Andrew S. Texas, S 1 8 More Saldana, Diana Texas, S 1 8 More Rodriguez, Fernando, Jr. Texas, S 1 8 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 1 8 More Counts, Walter David, III Texas, W 1 8 More Stadtmueller, Joseph Peter Wisc, E 1 8 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
All 22 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of government regulatory filings. (Because of ties, there were a total of 22 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judges David Gregory Kays in the Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) and Nicholas G. Garaufis in the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) ranked 1st with 3 defendants in government regulatory cases.
Judges John Joseph Tuchi in the District of Arizona, Roy Kalman Altman in the Southern District of Florida (Miami), Eric Nicholas Vitaliano in the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn), John George Koeltl in the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) and Loretta A. Preska in the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) ranked 3rd with 2 defendants in government regulatory cases.
Report Generated: May 14, 2025
