§2E1.2 Interstate or Foreign Travel or Transportation in Aid of a Racketeering Enterprise: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025
In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 18 people were sentenced under guideline §2E1.2. 8 (44%) received a prison term and 10 (56%) received probation only. All 18 pleaded guilty, and the median prison term was 3 months.
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In brief: In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 18 people were sentenced under guideline §2E1.2. 8 (44%) received a prison term and 10 (56%) received probation only. All 18 pleaded guilty, and the median prison term was 3 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 18 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.
Prison or Probation?
Under the U.S. Sentencing Commission counts, 8 of the 18 people (44%) sentenced under §2E1.2 went to prison. The other 10 (56%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
The group is small, so each person changes the percentages by several points. The yearly numbers are even smaller.
What the Title Says
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2E1.2 "Interstate or Foreign Travel or Transportation in Aid of a Racketeering Enterprise." The Commission files these cases under the offense type Extortion/Racketeering. All 18 are in that group.
No other description of the conduct comes from the sheet.
Short Terms Among Those Sent to Prison
The median prison term among the 8 was 3 months. A quarter of them received 9 months or more. A quarter received 0.1 months or less.
The yearly table shows the spread. Medians appear for some years only, such as 18 months in 2019 and 0 months in 2025. Years with n/a had too few people sent to prison to report a median.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2 | 6.6 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2017 | 1 | 0.1 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2018 | 3 | n/a | 3 of 3 |
| 2019 | 1 | 18 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2020 | 2 | 8 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2021 | 3 | 2.5 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2022 | 2 | n/a | 2 of 2 |
| 2023 | 1 | n/a | 1 of 1 |
| 2024 | 1 | n/a | 1 of 1 |
| 2025 | 2 | 0 months | 2 of 2 |
Pleas and Agreements
All 18 people (100%) pleaded guilty. None was convicted after a trial. Of the guilty pleas, 89% included a written plea agreement and 11% were straight pleas.
With no trials, there is nothing to compare plea sentences against.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Guideline Range
The sentence was within the guideline range for 13 people (72%). It was below the range at the government's request for 1 person (6%), and below the range without such a request for 2 people (11%). It was above the range for 2 people (11%).
The count of above-range sentences is 2.
Mandatory Minimums, Supervised Release, and Money Orders
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 people. Supervised release was ordered for 5 people (28%), with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 3 people (17%), and restitution for 1 (6%).
For criminal history, 72% were in the lowest category I and 6% in the highest (VI).
Changes From 2016 to 2025
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 7 people and a median prison term of 6.6 months. Fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 11 people and a median of 2.5 months. The later median is lower, but both medians come from only a few prison terms.
The records cannot show why the later group is different.
Reading the Small Numbers
A median needs enough prison terms to be meaningful. For several years in the table, the median is n/a, which means the sheet withheld it because too few people were sent to prison that year. The 8 prison terms across all years are the full basis for the overall median of 3 months.
The 10 probation-only sentences are counted in the total of 18 people but do not enter the prison median.
What Is Missing
The data covers only people convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not included, and prison terms are those imposed rather than time served.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so no military comparison is made.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2E1.2 (18), 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)
- §2E3.1 Gambling Offenses: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2E1.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2E4.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2E2.1 Making or Financing an Extortionate Extension of Credit: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2E1.4 Use of Interstate Commerce Facilities in the Commission of Murder-For-Hire: 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.