> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # §2M5.1 Evasion of Export Controls: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2m5-1-evasion-of-export-controls-fy2021/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:57:51.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:57:50.000Z - Description: Fiscal year 2021 had 22 people sentenced under §2M5.1, the largest yearly count in the 2016 to 2025 series. One person was convicted after a trial and received 63 months, while the median after a guilty plea was 12 months. The overall median prison term was 12.9 months. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2M5.1 Evasion of Export Controls](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2m5-1-evasion-of-export-controls/) › §2M5.1: FY2021 **In brief:** Fiscal year 2021 had 22 people sentenced under §2M5.1, the largest yearly count in the 2016 to 2025 series. One person was convicted after a trial and received 63 months, while the median after a guilty plea was 12 months. The overall median prison term was 12.9 months. Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025 This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 22 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021\. 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/). ## The Largest Yearly Count in the Series The U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 22 people in fiscal year 2021 whose primary guideline was §2M5.1\. The Guidelines Manual titles it "Evasion of Export Controls; Financial Transactions with Countries Supporting International Terrorism." The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. Of the 22, 20 (91%) received a prison term, and 2 (9%) received probation only. The median prison term was 12.9 months. A quarter received 28.5 months or more, and a quarter received 0.3 months or less. ## Plea and Trial Sentences Of the 22 people, 21 (95%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 12 months. After a trial it was 63 months. The trial figure comes from 1 person sent to prison. It shows what happened in that one case and cannot be used as an average for trials. Among the guilty pleas, 90% had a written plea agreement and 10% were straight pleas with no agreement. ## The Largest Group Was Below the Range Without a Government Request Of the 22 sentences, 5 (23%) were within the guideline range and 5 (23%) were below the range at the government's request. Another 11 (50%) were below the range without a government request. One (5%) was above the range. In this year, 11 of the 22 sentences were below the range without a government request, which was the most common position. The records do not say why. ## Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History After prison, 13 people (59%) were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 24 months. A fine was ordered for 7 (32%). No restitution was ordered (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. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 22 people with that information recorded (0%). ## Comparison With Other Years In fiscal year 2020, 16 people were sentenced under §2M5.1, with a median prison term of 18.7 months. In fiscal year 2022, 17 people were sentenced, with a median of 15 months. The 2021 median is lower than both. For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 162 people were sentenced under this guideline. Of them, 84% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 18.3 months, and 98% pleaded guilty. Sentences were within the range for 16% over that period. Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2021, under every guideline, totaled 57,287 people. Their median prison term was 29 months, and 43% of sentences were within the range. | 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 the Records Cannot Show The data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced, and prison terms are those imposed, not time served. It does not describe individual 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 2021 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2M5.1 (22), 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article) - [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts) - [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method) - [§2M5.1 Evasion of Export Controls: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2m5-1-evasion-of-export-controls/) (overview) - [§2M5.1 Evasion of Export Controls: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2m5-1-evasion-of-export-controls-fy2020/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [§2M5.1 Evasion of Export Controls: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2022](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2m5-1-evasion-of-export-controls-fy2022/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-sentences-outside-guideline-range/) - [Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-mandatory-minimum-sentences/) - [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source) - [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.