§2B4.1 Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018
In fiscal year 2018, 23 of the 91 people sentenced under §2B4.1 received probation only (25%), and 61 (67%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 21 months. Only 21% of sentences were within the guideline range.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2018, 23 of the 91 people sentenced under §2B4.1 received probation only (25%), and 61 (67%) received a prison term. The median prison term was 21 months. Only 21% of sentences were within the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 91 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018. 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.
Probation Only for 25% of the Group
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 91 people sentenced in fiscal year 2018 whose primary guideline was §2B4.1. 23 of them (25%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
61 people (67%) received a prison term. Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, the share sent to prison under this guideline was 69%. The 2018 share was lower.
The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018.
Prison Length
The median prison term was 21 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 30 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less.
The previous year's median was 12 months, and the next year's was 18 months. The 2018 median was higher than both. For everyone sentenced in federal court in 2018 under every guideline, the median was 24 months among 69,425 people.
60 people (66%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 91 people.
Sentences Mostly Below the Range
19 people (21%) were within the guideline range. 39 people (43%) were below the range at the government's request, and 32 people (35%) were below it without a government request. 1 person (1%) was above the range.
In all federal cases in 2018, 51% were within the range. Within-range sentences were much less common under §2B4.1. For all years of the guideline, the share was 20%, which is about the same as 2018.
Fines and Restitution
A fine was ordered for 30 people (33%), and restitution for 54 (59%). Restitution is a payment that repays a loss.
The Guidelines Manual titles the guideline "Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery," and the Commission files the cases under Bribery/Corruption.
Guilty Pleas and Trial Convictions
83 people (91%) pleaded guilty, and 8 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 18 months after a guilty plea and 36 months after a trial, based on 7 people.
92% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 8% were straight pleas with no agreement. 90% of the whole group was in the lowest criminal history category (category I), and 1% was in the highest (category VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Series Context and Limits
In fiscal year 2019, 78 people were sentenced under this guideline, and 18% were within the range. Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, the guideline covered 983 people, with a median prison term of 16.5 months and 93% guilty pleas. The table lists every year. A single year of this size does not form a trend.
Only people who were convicted and sentenced are counted, so acquittals and dismissals are missing. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so this post reports federal numbers alone.
| 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% |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2018 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B4.1 (91), 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)
- §2B4.1 Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019 (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.