§2C1.3 Conflict of Interest: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025
Most people sentenced under §2C1.3 received probation only. Of 37 people sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 32 (86%) received probation with no prison or other confinement, and 4 (11%) received a prison term. 36 of the 37 pleaded guilty.
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In brief: Most people sentenced under §2C1.3 received probation only. Of 37 people sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 32 (86%) received probation with no prison or other confinement, and 4 (11%) received a prison term. 36 of the 37 pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 37 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 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 Was Typical
Guideline §2C1.3 is titled "Conflict of Interest; Payment or Receipt of Unauthorized Compensation." The Sentencing Commission files these cases under Bribery/Corruption. From fiscal year 2016 through fiscal year 2025, 37 people were sentenced in federal court with §2C1.3 as the primary guideline.
Probation only went to 32 (86%). Prison went to 4 (11%). The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
How Long Were the Few Prison Terms?
The median prison term for the 4 people sent to prison was 6 months. A quarter received 7.5 months or more, and a quarter received 5.2 months or less. With 4 people, these figures describe a very small group.
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 4 people (11%), with a median term of 18 months.
Pleas
Of the 37 people, 36 (97%) pleaded guilty and 1 was convicted after a trial. Among guilty pleas, 97% had a written plea agreement and 3% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The records report no separate prison term for the one trial conviction, so no plea-versus-trial comparison is possible.
Money Penalties
A fine was ordered for 19 people (51%), and restitution for 11 (30%). Fines and restitution were each ordered more often than a prison term, which went to 4 people (11%) in this group.
Guideline Range and Mandatory Minimums
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 people. Sentences within the guideline range were 92% (34). Below the range at the government's request were 0% (0), and below the range without a government request were 3% (1). Above the range were 5% (2).
Sentences above the range were rare, and sentences below it were rarer still.
Criminal History
All 37 were in the lowest criminal history category, category I: 100%. 0% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Across the Years
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 16 people with a median prison term of 9 months. Fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 21 people with a median prison term of 4.5 months.
The table shows "n/a" for most years, which means the Commission data gave no median for that year. Only fiscal years 2019, 2021, and 2022 show one. The records do not allow a trend to be drawn from so few prison sentences.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 4 | n/a | 4 of 4 |
| 2017 | 3 | n/a | 3 of 3 |
| 2018 | 2 | n/a | 2 of 2 |
| 2019 | 7 | 9 months | 7 of 7 |
| 2020 | 5 | n/a | 5 of 5 |
| 2021 | 1 | 3 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2022 | 4 | 6 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2023 | 7 | n/a | 7 of 7 |
| 2024 | 2 | n/a | 2 of 2 |
| 2025 | 2 | n/a | 1 of 2 |
Limits
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal numbers are reported. The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, so acquittals and dismissals are not in it. Prison terms are imposed terms, not time served, and the data cannot show whether anyone sentenced to probation later served time for a violation.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2C1.3 (37), from the U.S. Sentencing Commission's 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)
- §2C1.1 Offering, Giving, Soliciting, or Receiving a Bribe: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2C1.2 Offering, Giving, Soliciting, or Receiving a Gratuity: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2C1.8 Making, Receiving, or Failing to Report a Contribution, Donation, or Expenditure in Violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- 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.