§2B1.4 Insider Trading: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025
People who went to trial under §2B1.4 received a median prison term of 19 months, compared with 6 months for those who pleaded guilty. The group totals 206 people sentenced from fiscal year 2016 to fiscal year 2025, and 155 of them (75%) received prison.
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In brief: People who went to trial under §2B1.4 received a median prison term of 19 months, compared with 6 months for those who pleaded guilty. The group totals 206 people sentenced from fiscal year 2016 to fiscal year 2025, and 155 of them (75%) received prison.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 206 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.
Trial Versus Guilty Plea
170 of the 206 people (83%) pleaded guilty, and 36 were convicted after a trial.
Among people sent to prison, the median term after a guilty plea was 6 months. After a trial it was 19 months, based on 34 people. The records do not show whether the cases differed in other ways, so the gap is a description and not an explanation.
Of those who pleaded guilty, 91% had a written plea agreement and 9% were straight pleas.
What the Guideline Covers
The Guidelines Manual gives §2B1.4 the title "Insider Trading." The data here counts cases where it was the primary guideline, the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
The Sentencing Commission classifies all 206 as Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so only federal numbers appear.
How Many Went to Prison?
155 people (75%) received a prison term and 21 (10%) received probation only. Probation only means no prison or other confinement.
For all those sent to prison, the median term was 12 months. A quarter received 24 months or more, and a quarter received 3 months or less.
Sentences Against the Guideline Range
Few sentences matched the guideline range. Only 7% (15 people) were within it. 38% (78) were below the range at the government's request, and 55% (113) were below it without a government request. None was above the range.
No mandatory minimum prison term applied to anyone in this group.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
143 people (69%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 24 months.
A fine was ordered for 118 people (57%). Restitution was ordered for 46 (22%). In criminal history, 97% were in the lowest category and 0% in the highest.
Change Over Time
In fiscal years 2016 to 2019, 95 people were sentenced and the median prison term was 6 months. In fiscal years 2020 to 2025, 111 people were sentenced and the median was 12 months.
The yearly table is uneven. The median ran from 5 months in fiscal year 2024 to 22 months in fiscal year 2023. The share who pleaded guilty ran from 55% in fiscal year 2017 to 94% in fiscal year 2016. With 7 to 36 people in each year, no single year is reliable on its own. Fiscal year 2024 had the most people, at 36, and fiscal year 2021 had the fewest, at 7.
| 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 of This Data
Only people who were convicted and sentenced are in the Commission's files. Acquittals and dismissals are not. The files also give no case facts, so they cannot show what trading was involved or how prosecutors chose the cases.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B1.4 (206), from the U.S. Sentencing Commission's 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)
- §2B3.1 Robbery: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2B5.1 Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2B4.1 Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2B5.3 Criminal Infringement of Copyright or Trademark: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2B2.1 Burglary of a Residence or a Structure Other than a Residence: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- 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.