Federal prosecutions for financial institution fraud have been in a downward slide in the past 13 years according to a report from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. According to Justice Department data TRAC analyzed, there will be approximately 1,365 of these prosecutions filed in FY 2011, which is down 28.6 percent from 2006 and less than half what it was in 2001.
The graph in the report shows the 20 year trend, beginning with the last two years of George HW Bush's presidency. But if you extend the timeline back to 1986 (the earliest data TRAC has for this category of prosecution) as I've done in the chart below, you can see that the current levels are lower than they were even in 1986, in the midst of the Savings and Loan crisis.
More after the jump...
What crimes are we talking about here? Nearly half the cases this year (47 percent) involved bank fraud. Here's a breakdown of the most commonly cited "lead charge" (meaning the most significant charge assigned the case by the DOJ prosecutors).
Lead Charge |
cases in FY 2011 |
Number |
Percent |
18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud |
585 |
46.8% |
18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy |
130 |
10.4% |
18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US |
122 |
9.8% |
18 USC 656 - Theft/embezzlement/misapplication by bank off, emp |
93 |
7.4% |
18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television |
73 |
5.8% |
18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices |
59 |
4.7% |
18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles |
41 |
3.3% |
18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents |
35 |
2.8% |
18 USC 1014 - Fraud - Loan and credit applications etc |
17 |
1.4% |
18 USC 513 - Securities of the States and private entities |
14 |
1.1% |