Federal Money Laundering Sentences in the Northern District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025
In the Northern District of Oklahoma, 36 people were sentenced for money laundering offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, and all 36 pleaded guilty. 61% were sentenced below the guideline range at the government's request, and the median prison term was 28.5 months (2.4 years).
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In brief: In the Northern District of Oklahoma, 36 people were sentenced for money laundering offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, and all 36 pleaded guilty. 61% were sentenced below the guideline range at the government's request, and the median prison term was 28.5 months (2.4 years).
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 36 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 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.
Most Sentences Were Below the Guideline Range at the Government's Request
The guideline range is the sentencing range the court calculates under the Sentencing Guidelines. Of the 36 people, 61% (22) were sentenced below the range at the government's request. 11% (4) were below the range without a government request.
Only 28% (10) were within the range, and 0 were above it. For all 94 districts, 25% of money laundering sentences were within the range, so the share within the range here was about the same.
For all offenses in the Northern District of Oklahoma, the share within the range was 45%.
Prison Terms
26 of the 36 people (72%) received a prison term, and 7 (19%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 28.5 months. A quarter received 50.2 months or more, and a quarter received 12.1 months or less.
For all districts, 88% were sent to prison and the median was 40 months. The district's median prison term for all offenses was 37 months.
What Counts as Money Laundering
"Money Laundering" is an offense type set by the U.S. Sentencing Commission. The most common primary guideline here was §2S1.1 (Laundering of Monetary Instruments), with 34 people. §2S1.3 (Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements) applied to 2.
Money laundering cases were 1% of the 3,400 people sentenced in the district in these years.
Plea Agreements and Mandatory Minimums
36 of 36 (100%) pleaded guilty, and none were convicted after a trial. All 36 pleas had a written plea agreement. For all districts, the guilty plea rate was 93%.
Because no one in this district was convicted at trial, there is no trial median to report. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 3 of the 36 people (8%).
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
25 people (69%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, and the median term was 36 months. A fine was ordered for 3 people (8%). Restitution was ordered for 11 (31%).
Criminal history was low for most: 83% were in the lowest category, category I, and 6% were in the highest, category VI.
Counts by Fiscal Year
Fiscal years run from October 1 to the end of September. Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 have 11 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 have 25. The table has no rows for 2019 or 2023.
The most people in one year was 9, in 2021. The yearly medians go from 19.5 months to 84 months, but a year with 2 people cannot show a pattern.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1 | n/a | 1 of 1 |
| 2017 | 3 | n/a | 3 of 3 |
| 2018 | 7 | 22.5 months | 7 of 7 |
| 2020 | 5 | 64 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2021 | 9 | 33 months | 9 of 9 |
| 2022 | 2 | 84 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2024 | 5 | 19.5 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2025 | 4 | 21.2 months | 4 of 4 |
Limits of This Count
The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.
The data does not show how much money was involved or why the government asked for a sentence below the range.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Northern District of Oklahoma (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Oklahoma North") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Money Laundering" (36). Offense types are the Commission's OFFGUIDE categories.
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)
- Federal Sentences in the Northern District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Northern District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Northern District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Northern District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Northern District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- 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.