§2B4.1 Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021
Federal courts sentenced 86 people in fiscal year 2021 for cases where §2B4.1 was the primary guideline. A prison term went to 60 of them (70%), and 17 (20%) received probation only. The median prison term was 12 months.
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In brief: Federal courts sentenced 86 people in fiscal year 2021 for cases where §2B4.1 was the primary guideline. A prison term went to 60 of them (70%), and 17 (20%) received probation only. The median prison term was 12 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 86 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021. 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.
How Many People Went to Prison in Fiscal Year 2021?
Of the 86 people sentenced, 60 (70%) received a prison term. Another 17 (20%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 12 months. A quarter received 24 months or more, and a quarter received 4 months or less. These are the terms imposed by the court, not the time actually served.
After prison, 59 people (69%) were ordered to serve supervised release. The median supervised release term was 24 months.
Money Orders: Fines and Restitution
A fine was ordered for 22 people (26%). Restitution was ordered for 50 (58%).
The records used here do not say how large any of these payments were. It also does not say whether the money related to a bank loan or to another kind of commercial bribery.
The Guideline and Its Place in the Federal System
Guideline §2B4.1 is titled "Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery" in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission placed all 86 cases in the offense type Bribery/Corruption. Its data includes only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are not counted.
Fiscal year 2021 ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. In that year, 57,287 people were sentenced under all guidelines combined. Their median prison term was 29 months, which is higher than the 12 months under §2B4.1.
Guilty Pleas, Plea Agreements, and Trials
A total of 79 of 86 people (92%) pleaded guilty, and 7 were convicted after a trial. Across all guidelines in fiscal year 2021, 98% pleaded guilty.
Among the guilty pleas under §2B4.1, 99% had a written plea agreement and 1% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The median prison term was 12 months after a guilty plea and 60 months after a trial. The trial figure is based on 7 people sent to prison. It describes that small group and does not show what a trial changes about a sentence.
Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range
Of the 86 sentences, 15% (13 people) were within the guideline range. Below the range at the government's request: 49% (42). Below the range without a government request: 36% (31). Above the range: 0% (0).
Sentences within the range were less common here than across all guidelines in fiscal year 2021, when the figure was 43%. Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 20% of §2B4.1 sentences were within the range.
No one received a mandatory minimum prison term out of the 86 with that information recorded.
Surrounding Years and Limits of the Records
In fiscal year 2020, the median prison term under §2B4.1 was 14.5 months for 78 people. In fiscal year 2022, it was 15 months for 119 people. The yearly table gives every year from 2016 to 2025.
Criminal history was mostly the lowest category: 88% were in category I and 0% in category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
The records do not show case facts or the reasons for any sentence. There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
| 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 2021 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B4.1 (86), 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 2020 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2B4.1 Bribery in Procurement of Bank Loan and Other Commercial Bribery: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022 (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.