§2S1.3 Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020
113 people were sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 with §2S1.3 as the primary guideline. 88 (78%) received a prison term, the median prison term was 10 months, and 112 pleaded guilty.
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In brief: 113 people were sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 with §2S1.3 as the primary guideline. 88 (78%) received a prison term, the median prison term was 10 months, and 112 pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 113 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020. 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 Small Group of 113 People
Fiscal year 2020 had 113 sentenced people under §2S1.3. That is a small count, and percentages drawn from it move with only a few people. Fiscal year 2019 had 177 people under this guideline, and fiscal year 2021 had 190.
Of the 113, 88 (78%) received a prison term and 19 (17%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Length of Prison Terms
The median prison term was 10 months for those sent to prison. A quarter received 18 months or more. A quarter received 5 months or less.
Courts impose these terms at sentencing, and the terms do not show how long anyone actually spent in prison. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 113 people.
The Guideline in Plain Terms
The Guidelines Manual gives §2S1.3 this title: "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's offense type for all 113 cases is Money Laundering.
The fiscal year covered October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. Only convicted and sentenced people are counted, using the guideline that set the offense level for the most serious count.
Sentences Above and Below the Guideline Range
12 people (11%) were sentenced above the guideline range. 42 (37%) were within it, 21 (19%) were below it at the government's request, and 38 (34%) were below it without a government request.
In fiscal year 2019, 41% of §2S1.3 sentences were within the range. In fiscal year 2021, the figure was 38%. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2020, it was 50%.
One Trial Conviction
112 of the 113 people (more than 99%) pleaded guilty. 1 person was convicted after a trial and sent to prison for 16 months. One case cannot be compared with the 10-month median after guilty pleas.
89% of the guilty pleas had a written plea agreement, and 11% were straight pleas.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
73 people (65%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 14 (12%). Restitution was ordered for 9 (8%).
86% were in the lowest criminal history category and 0% were in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Fiscal Year 2020 Against All Federal Sentences
For every guideline in fiscal year 2020, 64,565 people were sentenced. The median prison term was 18 months and 98% pleaded guilty. The §2S1.3 median was lower than that.
Over 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. The table lists each year. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal numbers are given, and the records do not explain why the year's count was lower than its neighbors.
| 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% |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2020 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2S1.3 (113), 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 2019 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2S1.3 Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2021 (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.