§2B4.1 Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019
In fiscal year 2019, 38 of the 78 people sentenced under §2B4.1 (49%) received a sentence below the guideline range at the government's request. Only 14 people (18%) were sentenced within the range. The median prison term was 18 months.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2019, 38 of the 78 people sentenced under §2B4.1 (49%) received a sentence below the guideline range at the government's request. Only 14 people (18%) were sentenced within the range. The median prison term was 18 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 78 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019. 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.
Government Requests for Sentences Below the Range
The guideline range is the sentencing range that the Guidelines Manual produces for a case. In fiscal year 2019, the U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 38 of the 78 people sentenced under §2B4.1 (49%) with a sentence below the range at the government's request.
25 people (32%) were below the range without a government request. 14 people (18%) were within the range, and 1 person (1%) was above it.
In all federal cases in 2019, 51% of the 76,538 people sentenced were within the range. Within-range sentences were much less common under §2B4.1. For fiscal years 2016 to 2025 together, the share under this guideline was 20%.
Who Went to Prison
55 of the 78 people (71%) received a prison term, and 12 (15%) received probation only. Probation only means no prison and no other confinement.
The median prison term was 18 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 30 months or more, and a quarter received 10.5 months or less. The median for everyone sentenced in federal court that year was 21 months.
55 people (71%) were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 36 months. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 78 people.
Restitution, Fines, and Criminal History
Restitution was ordered for 52 people (67%), and a fine for 13 (17%). 90% of the 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.
How Cases Ended
69 people (88%) pleaded guilty, and 9 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 16 months after a guilty plea and 45 months after a trial, based on 8 people.
97% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 3% were straight pleas with no agreement. For all federal cases in 2019, 98% pleaded guilty.
The Years on Each Side
In fiscal year 2018, 91 people were sentenced under this guideline, the median prison term was 21 months, and 21% were within the range. In fiscal year 2020, 78 people were sentenced, the median was 14.5 months, and 15% were within the range.
Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, §2B4.1 covered 983 people. 69% went to prison, and the median prison term was 16.5 months. The table lists every year. One year of 78 people is a small group and does not show a trend.
| 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% |
About the Guideline and the Limits of the Records
The Manual titles §2B4.1 "Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery." The Commission files these cases under Bribery/Corruption. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019.
Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data, which covers only people convicted and sentenced. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal numbers appear here. The records do not explain why the government asked for a lower sentence in any case.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B4.1 (78), 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 2018 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2B4.1 Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 (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.