Low arrest rates for white collar crimes in the state
One incident for every 3,350 residence according to report
Connecticut had among the lower arrest rates in the nation last year for the white collar crimes of embezzlement and fraud, at one incident for every 3,350 residents according to the FBI’s annual Crime in the United States report released this week.
Of suspected cases of fraud and embezzlement resulting in an arrest, cases were flat from 2016 in Connecticut at about 1,050 detentions statewide, even as New York, New Jersey and Florida saw dropping numbers of FBI arrests last year. Authorities pounced on more cases of forgery and counterfeiting last year in Connecticut, however, with the arrest rate up 17 percent to 650 cases for the seventh biggest increase in the nation.
The federal government maintains a list online at StopFraud.gov of websites and hotlines for people to report suspected fraud, with the FBI fielding tips at 202-324-3000 or online at Tips.fbi.gov.
The FBI data from 2016 and 2017 covers most of the tenure of Deirdre Daly, who stepped down a year ago as U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut and subsequently took a job as a internal compliance and white-collar crime attorney in the Stamford office of Finn Dixon & Herling. Under her replacement John Durham at the U.S. attorney’s office in New Haven, David Novick continues to lead a financial fraud and public corruption unit that focuses on investigating fraudulent activities covering the gamut from bankruptcy, mortgage and tax fraud to foreign bribery.
The Connecticut U.S. Attorney’s office has yet to release its 2017 annual report chronicling its enforcement activities for the year, with more than 110 prosecutors and support staff investigating cases at offices in New Haven, Bridgeport and Hartford.
According to the FBI, Delaware bottomed out the nation with an arrest on fraud or embezzlement for every 470 residents, seven times the rate of Connecticut, with New Hampshire having the worst preponderance of white-collar crime of any Northeast state.