§2B1.4 Insider Trading: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023
Among the 13 people sentenced in fiscal year 2023 under §2B1.4, "Insider Trading," 7 (54%) received a prison term, a lower share than the 75% for fiscal years 2016 to 2025 combined. The median prison term was 22 months. All 13 had a criminal history in the lowest category.
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In brief: Among the 13 people sentenced in fiscal year 2023 under §2B1.4, "Insider Trading," 7 (54%) received a prison term, a lower share than the 75% for fiscal years 2016 to 2025 combined. The median prison term was 22 months. All 13 had a criminal history in the lowest category.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 13 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023. 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 Less Common Than in the Full Series
In fiscal year 2023, 7 of the 13 people (54%) received a prison term, and 2 (15%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. Over all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline, 75% were sent to prison.
The median prison term in 2023 was 22 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 26 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less. With only 7 people receiving prison, each person moves these figures a great deal.
Trial Sentences Were Based on 2 People
A total of 11 of the 13 people (85%) pleaded guilty, and 2 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 12 months. After a trial it was 65 months.
The trial number is based on 2 people convicted at trial and sent to prison. It shows what happened to those 2 and cannot describe trials generally. All 11 guilty pleas (100%) had a written plea agreement.
Criminal History and Mandatory Minimums
Every person in this group (100%) was in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 0% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 13 people.
Relation to the Guideline Range
One sentence (8%) was within the range. 4 people (31%) were below it at the government's request, and 8 (62%) were below it without a government request. None was above the range.
For everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023, 42% of sentences were within the range. The 2023 insider trading figure is lower.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 6 people (46%), with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 6 (46%). Restitution was ordered for 5 (38%).
Adjacent Years and the Fiscal Year Calendar
Fiscal year 2023 ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023. The year before had 17 people and a median prison term of 16 months. The year after had 36 people and a median of 5 months.
The table lists all 10 years. Across them, 206 people were sentenced under this guideline, with a median of 12 months. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2023, 64,124 people were sentenced, with a median of 30 months.
This guideline became more or less common year to year in ways the records cannot explain. Whether any change in 2023 reflects policy or case mix cannot be told from this data.
| 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% |
Limits
The data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced, and prison terms are those imposed, not served. The Commission places these cases in fraud, theft, and embezzlement. No close court-martial counterpart exists in the approved crosswalk, so this post stands on federal numbers alone.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B1.4 (13), 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 2022 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2B1.4 Insider Trading: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024 (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.