Which State Offices Handle White-Collar Crime?

In 2014, 44 state attorneys general offices, plus the District of Columbia's, handled white-collar crime cases. That is one finding from a May 2020 Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) report, Jurisdiction of State Attorneys General Offices over White-Collar Crime, 2014.

This report is about state cases. Federal white-collar cases are different: they are brought by U.S. Attorneys' offices and sentenced under the federal Sentencing Guidelines. The same conduct can sometimes be charged in either system, and a state office may refer a case to federal prosecutors, as the referral numbers below show.

What counts as white-collar crime?

For the study, BJS defined white-collar crime as any crime committed without violence that involves lies, omissions, deceit, misrepresentation, or violating a position of trust, for personal or business gain.

Examples include bank, consumer, insurance, medical, securities, and tax fraud, along with environmental crimes and false claims and statements. Many of these can be brought as criminal cases, civil cases, or both. Because the definition is so broad, these cases are notoriously hard to track through the legal system.

How the survey worked

The National White Collar Crime Center and the National Association of Attorneys General ran the survey for BJS in 2015. It was called the Survey of State Attorneys General and went to offices in all 50 states. It asked which offices had closed white-collar cases in 2014. The original version of this article reported these details about the survey:

• Data collection ran from January to September 2015.
• Before the survey, two meetings were held with subject-matter experts to define white-collar crime and decide what the survey should ask.
• Some offices could not give a true count of their cases and gave estimates instead. Because of that, case counts were left out of the results.
• U.S. territories were left out because they lacked proper data systems.
• Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, and West Virginia chose not to respond.
• Ohio reported only that its office had criminal and civil white-collar jurisdiction.
• Arkansas did not report any usable information.
• Wyoming reported no white-collar cases in 2014.
• Indiana, Michigan, and Missouri gave a combined response.

Who handles these cases

• 42 offices had power to bring criminal white-collar cases.
• 36 offices had power to bring civil white-collar cases.
• 33 offices had both.

Each state decides what its attorney general's office is responsible for, including which crimes it may prosecute. In some states, the attorney general shares this work with local prosecutors.

The most common criminal cases were medical fraud, false claims and statements, and insurance fraud. On the civil side, consumer fraud was most common.

Sanctions after a guilty finding

Of the 42 offices with criminal power, 39 said courts ordered restitution (paying victims back) or fines. Other common sanctions were probation (37 offices), prison (36), suspended sentences (32), and court costs (32).

In civil cases, restitution and fines were also the most common outcome. The original article reported that 26 offices with civil cases named restitution or fines as the main sanction, and that suspended or revoked licenses and shutting down the business were also common outcomes.

Where cases come from and where they go

Most offices got cases from state and local police, victims, and state regulatory agencies. Local and state law enforcement referred the most cases.

Offices also sent cases to other agencies. Among offices with criminal power, three did not refer any cases to federal prosecutors, six did not refer any to local prosecutors, and two did not refer any to state regulatory agencies. The original article reported that 29 offices referred white-collar cases to local prosecutors and 39 referred cases to state regulatory agencies.

It also reported that 25 of the offices that responded either gave legal support to other state agencies or had a dedicated white-collar crime unit.

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