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# §2R1.1 Bid-Rigging, Price-Fixing or Market-Allocation Agreements Among Competitors: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2r1-1-bid-rigging-price-fixing-or-market-allocation-fy2016/
- Published: 2026-11-04T10:57:19.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T10:57:19.000Z
- Description: In fiscal year 2016, 17 of the 19 people sentenced under §2R1.1 (89%) received a sentence below the guideline range at the government's request, and 0 were sentenced within the range. 7 (37%) were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 5 months, and 12 (63%) received probation only.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2R1.1 Bid-Rigging, Price-Fixing or Market-Allocation Agreem](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2r1-1-bid-rigging-price-fixing-or-market-allocation/) › §2R1.1: FY2016

**In brief:** In fiscal year 2016, 17 of the 19 people sentenced under §2R1.1 (89%) received a sentence below the guideline range at the government's request, and 0 were sentenced within the range. 7 (37%) were sent to prison, with a median prison term of 5 months, and 12 (63%) received probation only.

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 19 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016\. 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/).

## Sentences Below the Range at the Government's Request

The U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded the position of each sentence against the guideline range for all 19 people. 17 (89%) were below the range at the government's request. 2 (11%) were below the range without a government request. 0 sentences were within the range, and 0 were above it.

Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, sentences within the range under §2R1.1 were 14%. For everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 under every guideline, they were 49%. Antitrust sentences were within the range less often than the federal total.

The Commission separates sentences below the range into those made at the government's request and those made without it. The data does not describe the reasons in any case.

## What §2R1.1 Covers and Who Was Counted

Guideline §2R1.1 is titled "Bid-Rigging, Price-Fixing or Market-Allocation Agreements Among Competitors" in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual. In fiscal year 2016, 19 people were sentenced in federal court with it as the primary guideline. The Commission's offense type for all 19 is Antitrust.

The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.

## Prison Terms and Probation

7 of the 19 (37%) received a prison term, and 12 (63%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 5 months. A quarter received 7 months or more, and a quarter received 5 months or less.

7 people (37%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 24 months. A fine was ordered for 18 (95%), and restitution for 7 (37%).

## Pleas and Mandatory Minimums

18 of the 19 (95%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. Among guilty pleas, 100% had a written plea agreement.

The median prison term after a guilty plea was 5 months. After a trial it was 12 months, but that is the term of 1 person. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 19 people with that information recorded (0%).

95% of the group were in the lowest criminal history category, and 0% were in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.

## Fiscal Year 2016 in the Longer Record

From fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 184 people were sentenced under §2R1.1\. 43% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 6 months, and guilty pleas were 91%. The share sent to prison in fiscal year 2016 was lower than that.

The next fiscal year, 2017, had 26 people and a median prison term of 11 months. The yearly table shows every year. The records cannot show a trend from one year.

All people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016, under every guideline, totaled 67,742\. The median prison term was 24 months, and guilty pleas were 97%.

| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| 2016        | 19               | 5 months      | 95%            |
| 2017        | 26               | 11 months     | 77%            |
| 2018        | 53               | 8 months      | 91%            |
| 2019        | 20               | 4 months      | 100%           |
| 2020        | 9                | 8 months      | 7 of 9         |
| 2021        | 6                | 0 months      | 6 of 6         |
| 2022        | 8                | 14.9 months   | 7 of 8         |
| 2023        | 17               | 6 months      | 100%           |
| 2024        | 8                | 5 months      | 8 of 8         |
| 2025        | 18               | 6 months      | 89%            |

## What the Records Cannot Show

The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it, and prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.

There is no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2R1.1 (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](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)
- [§2R1.1 Bid-Rigging, Price-Fixing or Market-Allocation Agreements Among Competitors: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2r1-1-bid-rigging-price-fixing-or-market-allocation/) (overview)
- [§2R1.1 Bid-Rigging, Price-Fixing or Market-Allocation Agreements Among Competitors: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2r1-1-bid-rigging-price-fixing-or-market-allocation-fy2017/) (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.