> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # §2B1.4 Insider Trading: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b1-4-insider-trading-fy2024/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:57:11.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:57:11.000Z - Description: Fiscal year 2024 had 36 people sentenced under §2B1.4, "Insider Trading," the largest count in the 10 years the table covers. The median prison term was 5 months, and 33 (92%) pleaded guilty. Most sentences were below the range. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2B1.4 Insider Trading](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b1-4-insider-trading/) › §2B1.4: FY2024 **In brief:** Fiscal year 2024 had 36 people sentenced under §2B1.4, "Insider Trading," the largest count in the 10 years the table covers. The median prison term was 5 months, and 33 (92%) pleaded guilty. Most sentences were below the range. Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025 This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 36 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024\. 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/). ## The Largest Group in the Table, With a Short Median Term A total of 36 people were sentenced in fiscal year 2024 with this guideline as primary. That is the highest count in the table. The median prison term, 5 months, is the lowest in the table. Of those 36 people, 26 (72%) received a prison term, and 4 (11%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. A quarter of those sent to prison received 17.2 months or more, and a quarter received 0.5 months or less. ## Pleas and Trials A total of 33 people (92%) pleaded guilty, and 3 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 5 months after a guilty plea and 9 months after a trial. The trial figure comes from 3 people. Of the guilty pleas, 91% had a written plea agreement and 9% were straight pleas with no agreement. ## Where Sentences Fell Against the Range 6 sentences (17%) were within the guideline range. 13 people (36%) were below the range at the government's request, and 17 (47%) were below it without such a request. None was above the range. Across all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under §2B1.4, 7% of sentences were within the range. In fiscal year 2024 for all guidelines, the share was 46%. No one in the 2024 group faced a mandatory minimum prison term. A mandatory minimum is a prison term that a statute sets as the lowest the court may impose for the offense. ## Release, Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History Supervised release was ordered for 25 people (69%), and the median term was 36 months. A fine was ordered for 14 (39%), and restitution for 3 (8%). All 36 people (100%) were in criminal history category I, and 0% were in category VI. ## Neighboring Years Fiscal year 2023 had 13 people, a median prison term of 22 months, and 8% of sentences within the range. Fiscal year 2025 had 28 people, a median of 14 months, and 4% within the range. Fiscal year 2024 ran from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024. Over the full 2016 to 2025 span, 206 people were sentenced under this guideline. In that span, 75% went to prison and the median was 12 months. For all federal cases in 2024, the median was 30 months among 61,678 people. | 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 Acquittals and dismissals are not in this data, and prison terms are the terms imposed. The records say nothing about the facts of any case, and they cannot show why the count was higher in this year than in others. Counts this small can move for reasons unrelated to any change in practice. The offense type the Commission assigns is fraud, theft, and embezzlement. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so the numbers here stand on their own. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2024 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B1.4 (36), 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article) - [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts) - [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method) - [§2B1.4 Insider Trading: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b1-4-insider-trading/) (overview) - [§2B1.4 Insider Trading: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b1-4-insider-trading-fy2023/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [§2B1.4 Insider Trading: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b1-4-insider-trading-fy2025/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-sentences-outside-guideline-range/) - [Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-mandatory-minimum-sentences/) - [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source) - [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.