The Executive Office for U.S. Trustees (EOUST) has issued a report detailing criminal referrals made during the Fiscal Year ending Sept. 30, 2016. The report is required under the provisions of § 1175 of the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-162). U.S. Trustees have a statutory duty to refer matters to the U.S. Attorneys’ offices for investigations and prosecutions that “relate to the occurrence of any action which may constitute a crime,” and to assist the U.S. Attorney in “carrying out prosecutions based on such action” (28 U.S.C. § 586(a)(3)(F)). During the year, the U.S. Trustees made 2,158 criminal referrals. Despite the declines in bankruptcy filings in recent years, this was the most referrals made in a year in the 11 years that the EOUST has been reporting this information. The five most common allegations contained in the FY 2016 criminal referrals involved tax fraud (47.8 percent), false oath or statement (24.9 percent), concealment of assets (21.5 percent), bankruptcy fraud scheme (19.7 percent) and identity theft or use of false/multiple Social Security numbers (16.1 percent). Some referrals contain more than one allegation. Bankruptcy-related criminal referrals often require significant time and resources to investigate, therefore the majority of referrals made during the year are still under review.
