§2B1.4 Insider Trading: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016
16 of the 18 people sentenced under guideline §2B1.4, Insider Trading, in fiscal year 2016 (89%) received a prison term, and none received probation only. The median prison term was 6 months. 17 of the 18 (94%) pleaded guilty.
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In brief: 16 of the 18 people sentenced under guideline §2B1.4, Insider Trading, in fiscal year 2016 (89%) received a prison term, and none received probation only. The median prison term was 6 months. 17 of the 18 (94%) pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 18 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016. 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.
Prison Was the Usual Sentence
In fiscal year 2016, the U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 18 people sentenced in federal court with §2B1.4 as the primary guideline. The Guidelines Manual titles it "Insider Trading." The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
16 of the 18 (89%) received a prison term. 0 (0%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline, 75% were sent to prison, so the 2016 share was higher.
The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
A Short Median With a Long Upper End
The median prison term was 6 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 17.2 months or more, and a quarter received 0 months or less. The median for all years together was 12 months, so the 2016 median was lower.
15 people (83%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, and the median term was 36 months. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 18.
Fines Were Common
The court ordered a fine for 11 of the 18 people (61%) and restitution for 3 (17%). Restitution means payment toward a loss. Dollar amounts are not in the data used here.
Almost None Within the Guideline Range
The guideline range is the range the Manual calculates for a case. 2 of the 18 sentences (11%) were within it. 9 (50%) were below it at the government's request, and 7 (39%) were below it without a government request. 0 were above the range.
Over all years under this guideline, 7% of sentences were within the range, so 2016 was higher. For all federal cases in fiscal year 2016, under every guideline, the share was 49%.
Pleas and the Single Trial
17 of the 18 people (94%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 82% had a written plea agreement and 18% were straight pleas.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 6 months, and after a trial it was also 6 months. The trial figure is based on 1 person, so it cannot show how trial and plea sentences generally compare.
Criminal History, Offense Type, and Other Years
All of the group (100%) were in the lowest criminal history category I, and 0% were in the highest category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
The Commission places these cases in its "Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement" offense type. In fiscal year 2017, the next year, 11 people were sentenced under §2B1.4, the median prison term was 13 months, and 0% were within the range.
The whole federal caseload in fiscal year 2016 was 67,742 people, with a median prison term of 24 months and 97% guilty pleas. For all years, §2B1.4 accounts for 206 people. The table below lists each year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 18 | 6 months | 94% |
| 2017 | 11 | 13 months | 55% |
| 2018 | 31 | 12 months | 81% |
| 2019 | 35 | 6 months | 71% |
| 2020 | 10 | 13.5 months | 80% |
| 2021 | 7 | 6 months | 7 of 7 |
| 2022 | 17 | 16 months | 88% |
| 2023 | 13 | 22 months | 85% |
| 2024 | 36 | 5 months | 92% |
| 2025 | 28 | 14 months | 82% |
What the Records Leave Out
The group is small and covers a single year, so none of these figures show a trend. The data does not describe the conduct in each case, and acquittals and dismissals are not part of it. Each prison term is the one imposed, not the time served.
For military law, the approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart. This post therefore stays with federal numbers.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B1.4 (18), U.S. Sentencing Commission individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
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.
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)
- §2B1.4 Insider Trading: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2B1.4 Insider Trading: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- 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.