§2M5.1 Evasion of Export Controls: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017
Of the 19 people sentenced in fiscal year 2017 with §2M5.1 as the primary guideline, 18 (95%) pleaded guilty and 1 was convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 16.5 months for the 14 people sent to prison. Only 1 sentence (5%) was within the guideline range.
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In brief: Of the 19 people sentenced in fiscal year 2017 with §2M5.1 as the primary guideline, 18 (95%) pleaded guilty and 1 was convicted after a trial. The median prison term was 16.5 months for the 14 people sent to prison. Only 1 sentence (5%) was within the guideline range.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 19 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017. 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.
One Trial and 18 Guilty Pleas
The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 19 people in fiscal year 2017 whose primary guideline was §2M5.1, titled "Evasion of Export Controls; Financial Transactions with Countries Supporting International Terrorism" in the Guidelines Manual. Of them, 18 (95%) pleaded guilty. One person was convicted after a trial.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 15 months. After a trial it was 36 months, but that figure rests on 1 person, so it cannot be treated as a typical trial sentence.
Among the guilty pleas, 100% had a written plea agreement. The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, so it does not show how many trials ended in an acquittal.
Prison Terms Overall
Of the 19 people, 14 (74%) received a prison term, and 2 (11%) received probation only. The median prison term among those sent to prison was 16.5 months.
A quarter received 36 months or more, and a quarter received 9.2 months or less. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 19 people with that information recorded (0%).
Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served. Fiscal year 2017 ran from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017.
Almost No Sentences Within the Range
The data records where each sentence fell against the guideline range. One sentence (5%) was within the range. 13 (68%) were below the range at the government's request, and 5 (26%) were below the range without a government request. None (0%) was above it.
For all guidelines in fiscal year 2017, 49% of sentences were within the range. The guideline's 5% is lower. Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, the §2M5.1 figure was 16%.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 7 people (37%), with a median term of 24 months. Fines were ordered for 5 (26%), and restitution for 0 (0%).
All of the group (100%) were in the lowest criminal history category (category I), and 0% were in the highest (VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
How 2017 Fits the 2016 to 2025 Series
For fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 162 people were sentenced under §2M5.1. Of them, 84% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 18.3 months, and 98% pleaded guilty. The 2017 median is lower than that overall median.
In fiscal year 2016, 11 people were sentenced, with a median prison term of 14 months. In fiscal year 2018, 17 people were sentenced, with a median of 24 months.
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017, under every guideline, totaled 66,873 people, with a median prison term of 24 months.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 11 | 14 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 19 | 16.5 months | 95% |
| 2018 | 17 | 24 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 14 | 22.4 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 16 | 18.7 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 22 | 12.9 months | 95% |
| 2022 | 17 | 15 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 14 | 21 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 14 | 18 months | 93% |
| 2025 | 18 | 24 months | 100% |
What Cannot Be Told From These Records
The records do not describe what each person did, and they do not explain why sentences fell below the range. The crosswalk used for this site has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so the post reports federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2M5.1 (19), 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)
- §2M5.1 Evasion of Export Controls: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2M5.1 Evasion of Export Controls: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2M5.1 Evasion of Export Controls: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (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.