Prosecutions for January 2026
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2026 the government reported 40 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Internal Revenue Service. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 21.2 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged 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 2026 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-3.6%). 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 10.6 percent from levels reported in 2021.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Prosecutions
The decrease from the levels five years ago in prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of 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.
Cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
The largest number of prosecutions of these matters in January 2026 was for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen", accounting for 32.5 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Tax" (30%), "Fraud-Federal Program" (10%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (5%), "Money Laundering-Other" (5%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-Local" (2.5%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.5%), "Fraud-Computer" (2.5%), "Fraud-Corporate" (2.5%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (2.5%), "Fraud-Mortgage" (2.5%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (2.5%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In January 2026, 4 defendants in 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 January the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956 involving "Laundering of monetary instruments". This was the lead charge for 25 percent of all magistrate filings in January.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In January 2026, 36 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during January there were an additional 6 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 prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during January 2026 referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 7 1 More 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 6 2 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 4 3 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 3 4 More 26 USC 7202 - Willful failure to collect or pay over tax 3 4 More 18 USC 4 - Misprision of Felony 1 6 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 1 6 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 1 6 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 1 6 More 18 USC 1952 - Racketeering -interstate/foreign travel/transport 1 6 More 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 1 6 More 26 USC 7602 - Examination of books and witnesses 1 6 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Fraud by wire, radio, or television" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343) was the most frequent recorded lead charge.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Fraud and False statements" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206.
Ranked 3rd was "Laundering of monetary instruments" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In January 2026 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 14.8 prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the number of 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 Mo, W 5 1 More N. J. 5 1 More Ohio, S 5 1 More Iowa, N 2 4 More La, E 2 4 More N Dakota 2 4 More N. Y., E 2 4 More Wash, W 2 4 More Wisc, E 2 4 More Fla, S 1 10 More Ill, N 1 10 More Kansas 1 10 More Mich, W 1 10 More Mo, E 1 10 More N Car, W 1 10 More N Mexico 1 10 More N. Y., S 1 10 More Penn, E 1 10 More S Car 1 10 More S Dakota 1 10 More Tenn, W 1 10 More Texas, E 1 10 More Texas, S 1 10 More Wash, E 1 10 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts
The Western District of Missouri (Kansas City), District of New Jersey and Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) — with 5 prosecutions — were the most active during January 2026.
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 crime cases of this type during January 2026 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Kays, David Gregory Mo, W 3 1 More Newman, Michael J. Ohio, S 3 1 More Hovland, Daniel L. N Dakota 2 3 More Salas, Esther N. J. 2 3 More Dlott, Susan J. Ohio, S 2 3 More Settle, Benjamin Hale Wash, W 2 3 More Altman, Roy Kalman Fla, S 1 7 More Strand, Leonard T. Iowa, N 1 7 More Phillips, Mary Elizabeth Mo, W 1 7 More Wimes, Brian Curtis Mo, W 1 7 More Bell, Kenneth Davis, Sr. N Car, W 1 7 More Browning, James O. N Mexico 1 7 More Bumb, Renee Marie N. J. 1 7 More Swain, Laura Taylor N. Y., S 1 7 More Kearney, Mark A. Penn, E 1 7 More Kernodle, Jeremy Daniel Texas, E 1 7 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
All 16 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings. (Because of ties, there were a total of 16 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judges David Gregory Kays in the Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) and Michael J. Newman in the Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) ranked 1st with 3 defendants in cases.
Judges Daniel L. Hovland in the District of North Dakota, Esther Salas in the District of New Jersey, Susan J. Dlott in the Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) and Benjamin Hale Settle in the Western District of Washington (Seattle) ranked 3rd with 2 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: April 16, 2026
