§2B5.1 Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016
In fiscal year 2016, 280 people were sentenced in federal court under §2B5.1, "Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States." Restitution was ordered for 164 of them (59%), and 234 (84%) received prison with a median prison term of 18 months.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2B5.1 Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of › §2B5.1: FY2016
In brief: In fiscal year 2016, 280 people were sentenced in federal court under §2B5.1, "Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States." Restitution was ordered for 164 of them (59%), and 234 (84%) received prison with a median prison term of 18 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 280 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.
Restitution Was Ordered for 59%
164 of the 280 people (59%) were ordered to pay restitution. A fine was ordered for 15 (5%). Restitution is money ordered to be repaid to a victim.
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 230 people (82%), with a median term of 36 months.
Prison, Probation, and the Length of Terms
234 people (84%) received a prison term. 34 (12%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 18 months. A quarter received 30 months or more, and a quarter received 10 months or less. The terms are those imposed, not time served.
Pleas and Trials
272 people (97%) pleaded guilty, and 8 were convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 18 months. After a trial it was 29 months, based on 8 people. A group that small can move a median a long way, so the trial figure is not a reliable guide to trials in general.
83% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement and 17% were straight pleas. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 4 of the 280 people (1%). That information was recorded for all 280 people.
Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range
All 280 people had range information. 58% (163) were within the range. 21% (58) were below it without a government request, and 18% (51) were below it at the government's request. 3% (8) were above it.
For all guidelines in fiscal year 2016, 49% of sentences were within the range, so the share under §2B5.1 was higher.
Criminal History
27% were in criminal history category I, the lowest. 21% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
What the Count Covers
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counts each person under the primary guideline, the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. Fiscal year 2016 ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016. The Commission placed these 280 cases in its Forgery/Counter/Copyright category. Only convicted and sentenced people are included.
Fiscal Year 2016 Among All Years
In fiscal year 2017, 238 people were sentenced under §2B5.1, the median was 15 months, and 55% were within the range. Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 1,486 people were sentenced, 84% went to prison, the median was 18 months, 99% pleaded guilty, and 57% were within the range. The table lists each year.
For all guidelines in 2016, 67,742 people were sentenced, with a median prison term of 24 months.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 280 | 18 months | 97% |
| 2017 | 238 | 15 months | 99% |
| 2018 | 228 | 18 months | more than 99% |
| 2019 | 229 | 15 months | more than 99% |
| 2020 | 160 | 18 months | 99% |
| 2021 | 98 | 15 months | 99% |
| 2022 | 86 | 19.5 months | 99% |
| 2023 | 67 | 20 months | 99% |
| 2024 | 60 | 18 months | 97% |
| 2025 | 40 | 22.5 months | 98% |
What These Records Cannot Show
They cannot describe the facts of any case or explain why restitution was ordered. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so only federal numbers are reported.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B5.1 (280), 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.
Mandatory minimum sentences. Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.
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)
- §2B5.1 Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2B5.1 Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States: 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.