§2S1.3 Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019
The median prison term under §2S1.3 in fiscal year 2019 was 10 months, which is lower than the 12 months in fiscal year 2018. 177 people were sentenced under this guideline, and 129 (73%) of them received a prison term.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2S1.3 Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requireme › §2S1.3: FY2019
In brief: The median prison term under §2S1.3 in fiscal year 2019 was 10 months, which is lower than the 12 months in fiscal year 2018. 177 people were sentenced under this guideline, and 129 (73%) of them received a prison term.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 177 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.
A Median of 10 Months in Fiscal Year 2019
Among the 129 people sent to prison, the median prison term was 10 months. A quarter received 16 months or more, and a quarter received 4 months or less. In fiscal year 2018, the median had been 12 months, and in fiscal year 2020 it was 10 months.
32 people (18%) received probation only. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 177 people with that information recorded (less than 1%).
What §2S1.3 Is
This guideline carries a long title in the Sentencing Guidelines Manual: "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." All 177 cases fall in the Money Laundering offense type used by the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
Fiscal year 2019 ran from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019. A person is counted under §2S1.3 when it was the primary guideline, meaning the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. The numbers describe people who were convicted. They do not describe those who were acquitted or whose cases were dismissed.
Sentences Below the Range Without a Government Request
72 people (41%) received a sentence within the guideline range. 69 (39%) were sentenced below the range without a government request, and 33 (19%) were sentenced below it at the government's request. 3 (2%) were above it.
For all guidelines in fiscal year 2019, 51% of sentences were within the range. Sentences under §2S1.3 were within the range less often than that. The share was also 41% across fiscal years 2016 to 2025 combined.
Guilty Pleas and Trial Convictions
173 of the 177 people (98%) pleaded guilty. 4 were convicted after a trial. A written plea agreement was part of 86% of the guilty pleas, and 14% were straight pleas.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 10 months. After a trial it was 13 months, based on 3 people. That is too small a group to support a comparison.
Other Parts of the Sentence
117 people (66%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison. The median supervised release term was 36 months. A fine was ordered for 27 (15%), and restitution for 14 (8%).
92% of the group were in criminal history category I, and 0% were in category VI. The court-martial system keeps no criminal history field, so that measure has no military equivalent.
Federal Context and Other Years
Across all guidelines in fiscal year 2019, 76,538 people were sentenced, the median prison term was 21 months, and 98% pleaded guilty. 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, and the median prison term was 10 months. Fiscal year 2018 had 152 people and fiscal year 2020 had 113. The table gives every year's count, median, and plea rate.
| 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
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for §2S1.3, so these are federal figures only. A one-year change in the median, from 12 months to 10 months, is not enough to call a trend, and the records give no reason for it.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2S1.3 (177), 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.
Mandatory minimum sentences. Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.
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 2018 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2S1.3 Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements: 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.