NCJ Number
140270
Date Published
1992
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This report presents information on the U.S. Department of Justice's investigations and prosecutions of criminal bank and thrift fraud, as well as the fines and restitution collected in such cases.
Abstract
The report indicates that the Justice Department's activity against criminal misconduct that involves banks and thrifts has increased over the past several years as more resources have been applied to investigations and prosecutions. In response to appropriation increases, the FBI's investigations into criminal bank and thrift fraud have increased significantly, and the Justice Department has indicted and convicted an increasing number of individuals for major frauds. Over the same period, however, U.S. attorneys declined to proceed with a high number of investigations and cases. In fiscal year 1991, of the 26,118 criminal referrals complaints, and other information it received, the FBI closed 55.1 percent of bank fraud investigations following U.S. attorney declinations. Another 20.5 percent were referred either for local prosecution or to another Federal agency. FBI data indicate that most of the investigations were declined because the alleged fraud involved estimated dollar losses that were too small to warrant the expense of agent and attorney time. Between October 1, 1988, and July 1992, the courts ordered $846.7 million in fines and restitution in cases of major fraud alone. According to information from the Justice Department as of July 1992, the Federal Government had collected approximately 4.5 percent of the total ordered. 3 tables, 4 figures, and appended supplementary information