Prosecutions for July 2025
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during July 2025 the government reported 64 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 33.3 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 2025 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (13.4%). Prosecutions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are up 47.9 percent from levels reported in 2020.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Prosecutions
The increase 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 July 2025 was for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen", accounting for 34.4 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Tax" (32.8%), "Fraud-Federal Program" (7.8%), "Money Laundering-Other" (6.3%), "Fraud-Other" (4.7%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.1%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (3.1%), "Fraud-Securities" (3.1%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In July 2025, 7 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 July the most frequently cited lead charge was Title U.S.C Section involving "Other US Code Section". This was the lead charge for 28.6 percent of all magistrate filings in July.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In July 2025, 57 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during July 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 July.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during July 2025 referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 9 1 More 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 8 2 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 6 3 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 4 4 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 2 5 More 26 USC 7202 - Willful failure to collect or pay over tax 2 5 More 18 USC 111 - Assaulting, resisting, impeding certain officers 1 7 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 1 7 More 18 USC 1040 - Fraud in connection with major disaster or emergency benefits 1 7 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 1 7 More 26 USC 7203 - Willful failure to file return, supply information 1 7 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Attempt to evade or defeat tax" (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201) 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 "Fraud by wire, radio, or television" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In July 2025 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 20.4 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 Cal, C 13 1 More Fla, M 7 2 More Idaho 5 3 More Ill, N 5 3 More Penn, M 4 5 More N Car, E 3 6 More Fla, S 2 7 More Ken, W 2 7 More Maine 2 7 More Ark, W 1 10 More Cal, N 1 10 More Conn 1 10 More Delaware 1 10 More Ill, S 1 10 More Kansas 1 10 More Miss, N 1 10 More N. J. 1 10 More Ohio, N 1 10 More Ohio, S 1 10 More Penn, E 1 10 More Puer Rico 1 10 More Virg, W 1 10 More Wyoming 1 10 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts
The Central District of California (Los Angeles) — with 13 prosecutions — was the most active during July 2025.
The Middle District of Florida (Tampa) ranked 2nd.
District of Idaho and Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) 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 crime cases of this type during July 2025 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Barber, Thomas Patrick Fla, M 4 1 More Harjani, Sunil R. Ill, N 4 1 More Hale, David Jason Ken, W 2 3 More Hickey, Susan Owens Ark, W 1 4 More Fitzgerald, Michael Walter Cal, C 1 4 More Bolden, Victor Allen Conn 1 4 More Covington, Virginia Maria Hernandez Fla, M 1 4 More Scriven, Mary Stenson Fla, M 1 4 More Berger, Wendy Williams Fla, M 1 4 More Altonaga, Cecilia M. Fla, S 1 4 More Becerra, Jacqueline Fla, S 1 4 More Gilbert, John Phil Ill, S 1 4 More Broomes, John Wesley Kansas 1 4 More Woodcock, John A., Jr. Maine 1 4 More Walker, Lance Edward Maine 1 4 More Aycock, Sharion Miss, N 1 4 More Adams, John R. Ohio, N 1 4 More Watson, Michael H. Ohio, S 1 4 More Quinones Alejandr, Nitza Ileana Penn, E 1 4 More Mannion, Malachy E. Penn, M 1 4 More Mariani, Robert David Penn, M 1 4 More Velez-Rive, Camille L. Puer Rico 1 4 More Ballou, Robert S. Virg, W 1 4 More Johnson, Alan Bond Wyoming 1 4 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
All 24 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 24 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judges Thomas Patrick Barber in the Middle District of Florida (Tampa) and Sunil R. Harjani in the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) ranked 1st with 4 defendants in cases.
Judge David Jason Hale in the Western District of Kentucky (Louisville) ranked 3rd with 2 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: September 25, 2025
