Prosecutions for October 2024
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during October 2024 the government reported 55 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 down 9.8 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 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 (0.7%). 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 24.4 percent from levels reported in 2019.
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 October 2024 was for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen", accounting for 43.6 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Tax" (36.4%), "Fraud-Federal Program" (5.5%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.6%), "Money Laundering-Other" (3.6%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In October 2024, 2 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 October the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1040 involving "Fraud in connection with major disaster or emergency benefits". This was the lead charge for 50 percent of all magistrate filings in October.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In October 2024, 53 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during October there were an additional 3 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 matters filed in U.S. District Court during October 2024 referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Charge Count Rank 26 USC 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax 9 1 More 26 USC 7202 - Willful failure to collect or pay over tax 7 2 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 3 3 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 3 3 More 26 USC 7206 - Fraud and False statements 3 3 More 12 USC 1956 - Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements 1 6 More 18 USC 287 - False, fictitious or fraudulent claims 1 6 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 1 6 More 18 USC 1014 - Fraud - Loan and credit applications etc 1 6 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 1 6 More 18 USC 2314 - Transportation of stolen goods, etc 1 6 More 26 USC 7212 - Attempts to interfere with admin of tax laws 1 6 More 31 USC 5318 - Monetary transactions - Compliance, etc 1 6 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 "Willful failure to collect or pay over tax" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7202.
Ranked 3rd were "Public money, property or records" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 641, "Fraud by wire, radio, or television" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343 and "Fraud and False statements" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In October 2024 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 20.1 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.
The Southern District of Texas (Houston) — with 7 prosecutions — was the most active during October 2024.
The Eastern District of California (Sacramento) and District of New Jersey ranked 2nd.
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 October 2024 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Hanks, George C., Jr. Texas, S 7 1 More Thurston, Jennifer L. Cal, E 5 2 More Nye, David Charles Idaho 2 3 More Salas, Esther N. J. 2 3 More Wolford, Elizabeth Ann N. Y., W 2 3 More Hickey, Susan Owens Ark, W 1 6 More Anderson, Percy Cal, C 1 6 More Noreika, Maryellen Delaware 1 6 More Honeywell, Charlene Vanessa Edwards Fla, M 1 6 More Moore, Kevin Michael Fla, S 1 6 More Hicks, S. Maurice, Jr. La, W 1 6 More Chuang, Theodore David Maryland 1 6 More Watters, Susan Pamela Montana 1 6 More Arleo, Madeline C. N. J. 1 6 More Cecchi, Claire Claudia N. J. 1 6 More Shipp, Michael A. N. J. 1 6 More Cogan, Brian Mark N. Y., E 1 6 More Payson, Marian W. N. Y., W 1 6 More Mehalchick, Karoline Penn, M 1 6 More Smith, William E. R. I. 1 6 More Rice, Thomas Owen Wash, E 1 6 More Adelman, Lynn S. Wisc, E 1 6 More Stadtmueller, Joseph Peter Wisc, E 1 6 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 15 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings , while the remaining 8 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 23 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge George C. Hanks, Jr. in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 1st with 7 defendants in cases.
Judge Jennifer L. Thurston in the Eastern District of California (Sacramento) ranked 2nd with 5 defendants in cases.
Judges David Charles Nye in the District of Idaho, Esther Salas in the District of New Jersey and Elizabeth Ann Wolford in the Western District of New York (Buffalo) ranked 3rd with 2 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: December 17, 2024
