§2S1.3 Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016
Of the 257 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 with §2S1.3 as the primary guideline, 101 (39%) received a sentence below the guideline range at the government's request. 177 (69%) were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 12 months.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2S1.3 Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requireme › §2S1.3: FY2016
In brief: Of the 257 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 with §2S1.3 as the primary guideline, 101 (39%) received a sentence below the guideline range at the government's request. 177 (69%) were sent to prison, and the median prison term was 12 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 257 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 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 Below the Guideline Range Were Common
The Sentencing Commission recorded the sentence's position against the guideline range for all 257 people. 92 (36%) were sentenced within the range. 101 (39%) were below it at the government's request, and 59 (23%) were below it without a government request. 5 (2%) were above it.
Across all guidelines in fiscal year 2016, 49% of sentences were within the range. Under §2S1.3, fewer sentences were within the range than that.
What Guideline §2S1.3 Covers
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles §2S1.3 "Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements; Failure to Report Cash or Monetary Transactions; Failure to File Currency and Monetary Instrument Report; Knowingly Filing False Reports; Bulk Cash Smuggling; Establishing or Maintaining Prohibited Accounts." The Commission groups these cases in its Money Laundering offense type, and all 257 were in that group.
The numbers count only people who were convicted and sentenced. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data.
Prison, Probation, and Prison Length
177 of the 257 people (69%) received a prison term. 63 (25%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 12 months. A quarter received 21 months or more, and a quarter received 4.5 months or less. These are the terms imposed, not time served.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 257 people with that information recorded.
Guilty Pleas and the Few Trials
250 people (97%) pleaded guilty, and 7 were convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 88% had a written plea agreement and 12% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 12 months. After a trial it was also 12 months, based on 6 people convicted at trial and sent to prison. With so few trial cases, that match says little.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
159 people (62%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 46 (18%), and restitution for 21 (8%).
91% 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 Context
Fiscal year 2016 ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016. That year, 67,742 people were sentenced across all guidelines, with a median prison term of 24 months and guilty pleas at 97%. The median under §2S1.3 was lower than the all-guideline median.
From fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 1,782 people were sentenced under §2S1.3. 75% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 10 months, guilty pleas were 98%, and 41% were sentenced within the range. In fiscal year 2017, 174 people were sentenced under this guideline, with a median prison term of 12 months and 37% within the range. The table shows every year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 257 | 12 months | 97% |
| 2017 | 174 | 12 months | 99% |
| 2018 | 152 | 12 months | 98% |
| 2019 | 177 | 10 months | 98% |
| 2020 | 113 | 10 months | more than 99% |
| 2021 | 190 | 12 months | 99% |
| 2022 | 185 | 12 months | 98% |
| 2023 | 172 | 9.5 months | more than 99% |
| 2024 | 177 | 6.7 months | 98% |
| 2025 | 185 | 8 months | 98% |
Limits of the Records
The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart for §2S1.3, so only federal numbers appear here. The records do not say why sentences fell below the range in a given case, and they do not describe the facts of any case.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2S1.3 (257), 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)
- §2S1.3 Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2S1.3 Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (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.