§2B4.1 Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016
In fiscal year 2016, 83 people were sentenced in federal court under §2B4.1, "Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery." 60 (72%) went to prison, with a median prison term of 24 months. Restitution was ordered for 47 people (57%).
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In brief: In fiscal year 2016, 83 people were sentenced in federal court under §2B4.1, "Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery." 60 (72%) went to prison, with a median prison term of 24 months. Restitution was ordered for 47 people (57%).
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 83 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.
Financial Orders in Fiscal Year 2016
Under §2B4.1 in fiscal year 2016, 47 of the 83 people sentenced (57%) were ordered to pay restitution, and 28 (34%) were ordered to pay a fine. Restitution repays a loss, and a fine is a payment to the government.
The Guidelines Manual titles the guideline "Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery." The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted a case here when this guideline set the offense level for the most serious count. It places all 83 cases in the Bribery/Corruption offense type. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
Prison, Probation, and Supervised Release
60 of the 83 people (72%) received a prison term. 12 (14%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
The median prison term was 24 months (2 years). A quarter of those sent to prison received 41.2 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less. These are terms imposed, not time served.
58 people (70%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 83 people.
Pleas and Trials
77 people (93%) pleaded guilty, and 6 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 20 months. After a trial it was 60 months, based on 5 people sent to prison. A group of 5 is too small to describe trials generally.
Among the guilty pleas, 94% had a written plea agreement and 6% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Sentences and the Guideline Range
34 people (41%) were sentenced within the guideline range. 21 people (25%) were below the range at the government's request, and 28 people (34%) were below it without a government request. No one was above the range.
In federal court as a whole in 2016, 49% of the 67,742 people sentenced were within the range, and the median prison term was 24 months. The §2B4.1 median was the same as that overall median, while within-range sentences were less common.
How 2016 Fits Into the Series
Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, §2B4.1 covered 983 people. 69% went to prison, the median prison term was 16.5 months, 93% pleaded guilty, and 20% were within the range. The 2016 median of 24 months was higher than that all-years median, and the 41% within the range was higher than 20%.
In fiscal year 2017, 107 people were sentenced under this guideline, the median prison term was 12 months, and 24% were within the range. The table lists every year. A single year of 83 people is small and not a trend.
89% of the 2016 group was in the lowest criminal history category (category I), and 0% was in the highest (category VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 83 | 24 months | 93% |
| 2017 | 107 | 12 months | 95% |
| 2018 | 91 | 21 months | 91% |
| 2019 | 78 | 18 months | 88% |
| 2020 | 78 | 14.5 months | 95% |
| 2021 | 86 | 12 months | 92% |
| 2022 | 119 | 15 months | 98% |
| 2023 | 112 | 20 months | 91% |
| 2024 | 127 | 18 months | 94% |
| 2025 | 102 | 15 months | 89% |
What the Records Do Not Show
The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B4.1 (83), 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)
- §2B4.1 Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2B4.1 Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery: 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.