Federal Bribery and Corruption Sentences in the Western District of Washington, FY2016–2025
In the Western District of Washington, 13 people were sentenced for bribery and corruption offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2024. Of those, 9 (69%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 20 months. Every sentence was below the guideline range, which is not the case for most bribery a
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the Western District of Washington, FY2 › Bribery and Corruption: Western District of Washington
In brief: In the Western District of Washington, 13 people were sentenced for bribery and corruption offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2024. Of those, 9 (69%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 20 months. Every sentence was below the guideline range, which is not the case for most bribery and corruption sentences nationwide.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 13 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
Every Sentence Was Below the Guideline Range
The most distinctive number in this district is the position of the sentences against the guideline range. Of the 13 people with the information recorded, 0 received a sentence within the range and 0 received a sentence above it.
In 7 cases (54%), the person was sentenced below the range at the government's request. In 6 cases (46%), the person was sentenced below the range without a government request.
For all 94 federal districts together, 21% of bribery and corruption sentences were within the guideline range. The guideline range is the sentencing range calculated under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. A judge may sentence below it, and a prosecutor may ask for that.
Prison Terms and Probation
In all, 9 of the 13 people (69%) were sentenced to prison. In 3 cases (23%), the person received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 20 months. A quarter received 24 months or more, and a quarter received 18 months or less.
For all 94 districts, 74% of people sentenced for bribery and corruption were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 18 months. The prison terms here are the terms imposed, not time served.
Guilty Pleas and Trials
Of the 13 people, 11 (85%) pleaded guilty and 2 were convicted after a trial. Across all 94 districts, 91% of bribery and corruption cases ended in a guilty plea.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 18 months. After a trial it was 27 months, but that figure rests on only 2 people, so it cannot show how trial sentences generally compare with plea sentences.
Among the guilty pleas, 100% had a written plea agreement. None was a straight plea with no agreement.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1 | 30 months | 0 of 1 |
| 2017 | 1 | 18 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2022 | 5 | 17 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2023 | 5 | 20 months | 4 of 5 |
| 2024 | 1 | n/a | 1 of 1 |
Which Guidelines Applied
The offense type "Bribery/Corruption" is the Sentencing Commission's own category. It groups cases by the main guideline used to calculate the sentence.
The most common primary guideline was §2B4.1 (Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery), used in 9 cases. The next was §2C1.1 (Offering, Giving, Soliciting, or Receiving a Bribe), used in 4 cases.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
In 9 cases (69%), the person was ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 6 people (46%), and restitution was ordered for 6 (46%).
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 13 people (8%). Criminal history was mostly in the lowest category: 92% were in category I, and 8% were in category VI.
How This District Compares With Its Other Cases
Bribery and corruption cases were less than 1% of the 3,992 people sentenced in this district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The yearly table shows how few cases there were: 2 people in fiscal years 2016 to 2019 and 11 people in fiscal years 2020 to 2025.
For all offenses in the district, the median prison term was 30 months, guilty pleas were 97%, and 35% of sentences were within the guideline range. Each of those numbers is different from the bribery and corruption numbers, but 13 people is a small group, and no trend can be drawn from it.
What These Records Cannot Show
The Commission's data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it, so the records cannot show how many bribery and corruption charges were brought in this district.
The military installations in this district appear in this site's court-martial data: Bremerton, Washington, and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. Courts-martial are tried in military courts, not in this federal district court, and the federal numbers here are reported on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Western District of Washington (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Washington West") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Bribery/Corruption" (13). Offense types are the Commission's OFFGUIDE categories.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Mandatory minimum sentences. Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- Federal Sentences in the Western District of Washington, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Western District of Washington, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Other Offense Sentences in the Western District of Washington, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Western District of Washington, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Western District of Washington, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.