§2M5.1 Evasion of Export Controls: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019
In fiscal year 2019, 14 people were sentenced under §2M5.1, and 12 (86%) of them received a prison term with a median of 22.4 months. Sentences were within the guideline range for 3 people (21%), which is a larger share than in the years just before and after. All 14 pleaded guilty.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2019, 14 people were sentenced under §2M5.1, and 12 (86%) of them received a prison term with a median of 22.4 months. Sentences were within the guideline range for 3 people (21%), which is a larger share than in the years just before and after. All 14 pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 14 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019. 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 Within the Range: 3 of 14
Under §2M5.1, the U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 14 people in fiscal year 2019. The Guidelines Manual titles the guideline "Evasion of Export Controls; Financial Transactions with Countries Supporting International Terrorism."
Of the 14 sentences, 3 (21%) were within the guideline range. 7 (50%) were below the range at the government's request, and 4 (29%) were below the range without a government request. None (0%) was above it.
The within-range share was 6% in fiscal year 2018 and 13% in fiscal year 2020. Both are lower than 2019. Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, the share was 16%, and for all guidelines in fiscal year 2019 it was 51%.
Prison Terms
12 of the 14 people (86%) were sentenced to prison, and 2 (14%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term was 22.4 months.
A quarter of those sent to prison received 25.8 months or more, and a quarter received 9.8 months or less. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 14 people with that information recorded (0%).
These are the terms imposed by the court, not time served. Fiscal year 2019 ran from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019.
Pleas
All 14 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Every guilty plea (100%) had a written plea agreement.
The data includes only people who were convicted and sentenced. It does not show how many people charged under this area of law had their cases dismissed or were acquitted.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
After prison, 7 people (50%) were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 24 months. A fine was ordered for 6 people (43%). No restitution was ordered (0%).
All of the group (100%) were in the lowest criminal history category (category I). None (0%) were in the highest (VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Fiscal Year 2019 in Context
For all 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 2019 median is higher than that overall median.
The median was 24 months in fiscal year 2018 and 18.7 months in fiscal year 2020. Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019, under every guideline, totaled 76,538 people, with a median prison term of 21 months.
The yearly counts in the table are small. A median based on 14 people can change with a few cases, so the table should not be read as a trend.
| 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% |
Limits of the Records
The records do not describe what any person did or why the government asked for a lower sentence in 7 of these cases. The crosswalk used for this site has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so the post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2M5.1 (14), 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 2018 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2M5.1 Evasion of Export Controls: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 (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.