§2B5.1 Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023
Under §2B5.1, 67 people were sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023, and 48% of them received a sentence within the guideline range. The median prison term for the 55 people sent to prison (82%) was 20 months. This is a small group, and the sections below explain what the numbers do and do n
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2B5.1 Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of › §2B5.1: FY2023
In brief: Under §2B5.1, 67 people were sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023, and 48% of them received a sentence within the guideline range. The median prison term for the 55 people sent to prison (82%) was 20 months. This is a small group, and the sections below explain what the numbers do and do not count.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 67 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023. 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.
Sentences Against the Guideline Range in Fiscal Year 2023
Of the 67 people sentenced with §2B5.1 as the primary guideline, 32 (48%) received a sentence within the advisory range. A sentence below the range at the government's request was given to 14 people (21%). A sentence below the range with no government request was given to 20 people (30%). Only 1 person (1%) was sentenced above the range.
The share within the range was lower than in fiscal year 2022 (57%) and lower than the 57% for all years from 2016 to 2025. It was higher in fiscal year 2024 at 52%. For everyone sentenced in federal court in 2023 under every guideline, 42% were within the range.
Prison Terms and Probation
The guideline is titled "Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States." In fiscal year 2023, 55 of the 67 people (82%) received a prison term, and 10 (15%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
The median prison term among those sent to prison was 20 months. A quarter received 33 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less. These are the terms imposed, not the time served.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 3 of the 67 people (4%). After prison, 55 people (82%) were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 36 months.
Pleas and the Single Trial Conviction
In this group, 66 of 67 people (99%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 19 months. The median after a trial was 36 months, and it comes from that 1 person, so it is not a comparison of any value.
Among the guilty pleas, 89% included a written plea agreement and 11% were straight pleas with no agreement. Guilty pleas across all federal guidelines were 97% in the same year.
Money Orders and Criminal History
Restitution was ordered for 40 people (60%), and a fine was ordered for 4 (6%).
In the lowest criminal history category, category I, 16% of the group were placed. In the highest, category VI, 28% were placed. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so there is nothing to set beside these percentages.
How This Year Fits the Longer Record
From fiscal year 2016 to fiscal year 2025, 1,486 people were sentenced under §2B5.1. In that period, 84% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 18 months, and 99% pleaded guilty. The 2023 median of 20 months is higher than the 18 months over all years.
The year before, fiscal year 2022, had 86 people and a median prison term of 19.5 months. The year after, fiscal year 2024, had 60 people and a median of 18 months. Fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30, and fiscal year 2023 ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023.
All 64,124 people sentenced in federal court in 2023 had a median prison term of 30 months, which is higher than the median under this guideline. The Commission's offense type for these cases is Forgery/Counter/Copyright, with 67 people in the year.
| 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% |
Limits of the Records
Only people who were convicted and sentenced appear in this data. Acquittals and dismissals are not counted, so the numbers say nothing about how many people were charged.
The records give no reasons for a sentence below the range or above it, and they describe no individual case. With 67 people in the year, one year should not be read as a trend. No close court-martial counterpart exists in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B5.1 (67), 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 2022 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2B5.1 Offenses Involving Counterfeit Bearer Obligations of the United States: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024 (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.