> ## 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. # §2S1.3 Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2s1-3-structuring-transactions-to-evade-reporting-requirements-fy2017/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:24:42.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:24:42.000Z - Description: In fiscal year 2017, 172 of the 174 people sentenced in federal court under §2S1.3 (99%) pleaded guilty. 117 (67%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 12 months. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2S1.3 Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requireme](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2s1-3-structuring-transactions-to-evade-reporting-requirements/) › §2S1.3: FY2017 **In brief:** In fiscal year 2017, 172 of the 174 people sentenced in federal court under §2S1.3 (99%) pleaded guilty. 117 (67%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 12 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 174 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](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/). ## Almost Every Case Ended in a Guilty Plea Only 2 of the 174 people were convicted after a trial. The other 172 (99%) pleaded guilty, and 87% of those pleas had a written plea agreement. The remaining 13% were straight pleas with no agreement. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 12 months. After a trial it was 42 months. That trial figure rests on 2 people who were convicted at trial and sent to prison, so it should not be read as a pattern. ## Guideline §2S1.3 and the Data Behind This Post 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 filed all 174 cases under its Money Laundering offense type. Fiscal year 2017 ran from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017\. Each person in the count was convicted and sentenced in that period, so cases that ended in an acquittal or a dismissal are missing. ## Who Went to Prison and for How Long 117 people (67%) received a prison term, and 46 (26%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. Among those sent to prison, a quarter received 18 months or more, and a quarter received 4 months or less. The figures are sentences announced by the court, and actual time served can differ. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 174 people with that information recorded. ## How Sentences Related to the Guideline Range 65 people (37%) were sentenced within the range. 58 (33%) were below it at the government's request, and 49 (28%) were below it without a government request. 2 (1%) were above it. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2017, 49% of sentences were within the range. In fiscal year 2016, 36% of §2S1.3 sentences were within the range, and in fiscal year 2018, 43% were. ## Supervision, Fines, Restitution, and Criminal History 110 people (63%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, and the median term was 36 months. A fine was ordered for 38 (22%), and restitution for 9 (5%). In criminal history, 93% were in the lowest category and 0% were in the highest. Court-martial files do not record criminal history, so no military comparison is possible on that point. ## Comparison With All Federal Cases In fiscal year 2017, 66,873 people were sentenced under all guidelines. The median prison term was 24 months, and 97% pleaded guilty. The §2S1.3 median of 12 months was lower than the all-guideline median. Across 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, and 98% pleaded guilty. The median in fiscal years 2016, 2017, and 2018 was 12 months each time. The table lists the other years. | 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% | ## What Cannot Be Learned Here The crosswalk to court-martial offenses has no close counterpart for this guideline, so the post stays with federal figures. Why a court sentenced below the range in any one case is not in the data. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2S1.3 (174), 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) - [§2S1.3 Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2s1-3-structuring-transactions-to-evade-reporting-requirements/) (overview) - [§2S1.3 Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2s1-3-structuring-transactions-to-evade-reporting-requirements-fy2016/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [§2S1.3 Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2s1-3-structuring-transactions-to-evade-reporting-requirements-fy2018/) (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.