Government Regulatory Prosecutions for October 2024
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during October 2024 the government reported 33 new government regulatory prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 58.2 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 2024 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was only slightly up (1%). 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 20.9 percent from levels reported in 2019.
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 October 2024 was for "Other-Regulatory Offenses", accounting for 33.3 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Money Laundering-Other" (21.2%), "Customs-Duty Violations" (12.1%), "Export Enforcement General" (9.1%), "Health and Safety Violations-Employees" (9.1%), "Money Laundering-Drug" (9.1%), "Counterfeiting and Forgery" (3%), "Customs-Currency Violations" (3%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for government regulatory prosecutions in October 2024 was DHS accounting for 18 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of government regulatory referrals were: FBI (18% ), Postal (18%), DEA (9%), Commerce (6%). See Figure 3.
Government Regulatory Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In October 2024, 12 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 October the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 43 U.S.C Section . involving "Parking Violation". This was the lead charge for 50 percent of all magistrate filings in October.
Government Regulatory Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In October 2024, 21 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during October there were an additional 5 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 October.
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 October 2024.
Lead Charge Count Rank 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 5 2 More 12 USC 1956 - Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements 2 3 More 31 USC 5332 - Bulk Cash Smuggling into or out of the United States 2 3 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 1 5 More 18 USC 514 - Fictitious Obligations 1 5 More 18 USC 1035 - False claims relating to health care matters 1 5 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 1 5 More 18 USC 1365 - Tampering with consumer products 1 5 More 21 USC 331 - Fed Food, Drug & Cosmetics Act - Prohibited acts 1 5 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 1 5 More 31 USC 5316 - Exporting and importing monetary instruments( 1 5 More 41 CFR 102-74.380c - Theft of Government Property 1 5 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Other US Code Section" (Title U.S.C Section) was the most frequent recorded lead charge.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Laundering of monetary instruments" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956.
Ranked 3rd were "Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements" under Title 12 U.S.C Section 1956 and "Bulk Cash Smuggling into or out of the United States" under Title 31 U.S.C Section 5332.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In October 2024 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 9.3 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., S 6 1 More Arizona 3 2 More Texas, S 2 3 More Vermont 2 3 More Fla, S 1 5 More Miss, S 1 5 More N Car, E 1 5 More N Mexico 1 5 More Okla, E 1 5 More Okla, W 1 5 More Oregon 1 5 More Penn, E 1 5 More S Car 1 5 More Texas, E 1 5 More Texas, N 1 5 More Utah 1 5 More Virg, E 1 5 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts
The Southern District of New York (Manhattan) — with 6 prosecutions — was the most active during October 2024.
The District of Arizona ranked 2nd.
Southern District of Texas (Houston) and District of Vermont 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 October 2024 are shown in Table 4.
All 6 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of government regulatory filings.
Judges Diane Joyce Humetewa in the District of Arizona, John George Koeltl in the Southern District of New York (Manhattan), Ronald A. White in the Eastern District of Oklahoma (Muskogee), Bernard M. Jones in the Western District of Oklahoma (Oklahoma City), Marcia A. Crone in the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) and Reed Charles O'Connor in the Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth) ranked 1st with 1 defendants in government regulatory cases.
Report Generated: December 17, 2024
