18 U.S.C. 1014, Loan and credit applications generally; renewals and discounts; crop insurance: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
Of 342 federal defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case fell under 18 U.S.C. 1014, 311 (91%) pleaded guilty in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Only 10 went to trial, and 1 of those trials ended in an acquittal. Of the 320 who were convicted, 285 (89%) received a prison term on that cha
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In brief: Of 342 federal defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case fell under 18 U.S.C. 1014, 311 (91%) pleaded guilty in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Only 10 went to trial, and 1 of those trials ended in an acquittal. Of the 320 who were convicted, 285 (89%) received a prison term on that charge, with a median of 18 months.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 342 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The series also draws on the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 659,036 people sentenced 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.
What Section 1014 Is Headed
The U.S. Code titles this section "Loan and credit applications generally; renewals and discounts; crop insurance". This post uses only that heading to identify the statute. It does not describe the conduct behind any case.
The count comes from the Federal Judicial Center. It includes every defendant whose case ended in the period, not only those who were sentenced. Dismissed cases and acquittals are part of the total.
Every one of the 342 defendants faced this charge as a felony. The records list no Class A misdemeanor or petty offense under this section.
Prison Terms After Conviction
Conviction was the usual end point. In all, 320 of the 342 (94%) were convicted, either by a guilty plea or at trial.
Most of those convicted were sent to prison on this charge. The records show 285 (89%) with a prison term. Among defendants with a term of 1 month or more, the median prison term was 18 months.
The median is the middle value when all of those terms are lined up from shortest to longest. The figure covers only the term on this charge, not any term on other counts in the same case.
Guilty Pleas, Dismissals, and Trials
Guilty pleas ended 311 cases. Another 21 (6%) were dismissed, and 10 (3%) went to trial.
A dismissal in these records means the charges were dropped. That includes cases dismissed on the government's motion, for example after a defendant pleaded guilty in a separate case. A dismissal therefore does not always mean the defendant left federal court without a conviction.
All 10 trials were jury trials. No bench trial, which is one decided by a judge alone, appears for this section. Of the 10 jury trials, 1 ended in an acquittal (10%). With so few trials, that rate rests on a single case.
Outcomes by Fiscal Year
The yearly counts were highest at the start of the period. Fiscal year 2016 had 66 cases end, with 79% resolved by a guilty plea and 15% dismissed. That year also had 4 of the 10 trials and the only acquittal.
In fiscal years 2020, 2021, and 2025, every case under this section ended in a guilty plea. Those years had 25, 23, and 23 cases. Counts this small can change a great deal from year to year, so the table is best read as a record of each year rather than a trend.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 66 | 79% | 15% | 4 | 1 (1 of 4) |
| 2017 | 46 | 85% | 9% | 3 | 0 (0 of 3) |
| 2018 | 38 | 95% | 5% | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 45 | 93% | 7% | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 25 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 23 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 31 | 94% | 3% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2023 | 24 | 92% | 0% | 2 | 0 (0 of 2) |
| 2024 | 21 | 95% | 5% | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 23 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
Who Represented These Defendants?
Private (retained) counsel appeared in 198 cases (58%). A CJA panel attorney, a private lawyer appointed by the court, handled 67 (20%). A federal public or community defender handled 64 (19%).
Guilty plea rates were close across the groups: 97% for federal defenders, 93% for CJA panel attorneys, and 94% for retained counsel. Retained counsel had the highest dismissal rate, at 4%. The single acquittal came in a case with a federal defender, 1 of 2 trials in that group.
These differences describe groups of cases, not the quality of lawyers. Type of counsel is recorded at the end of the case. Defendants who hire a lawyer and those who receive an appointed lawyer face different charges and circumstances.
| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal public or community defender | 64 | 97% | 0% | 2 | 1 (1 of 2) |
| CJA panel attorney | 67 | 93% | 1% | 4 | 0 (0 of 4) |
| Private (retained) counsel | 198 | 94% | 4% | 4 | 0 (0 of 4) |
Limits of These Records
The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart for this statute, so the numbers stand on their own. They count defendants by the most serious charge at the end of the case. A defendant first charged under another section, or charged under this one and later pleading to something else, would be counted differently.
The records do not show the facts of any case, the strength of the evidence, or why a prosecutor dismissed a charge. They cannot explain any difference between years or between counsel groups.
How We Counted
Every federal defendant whose case ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 and whose most serious charge at the end of the case (TTITLE1) was under 18 U.S.C. 1014, any subsection (342), Federal Judicial Center, counted as in the federal courts' Table D-4. Type of counsel is TCOUNSEL; labels from the FJC criminal codebook. Section heading from the U.S. Code as published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel (release point 119-136).
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
Who is in each set of numbers. The federal sentencing numbers come from the U.S. Sentencing Commission. They count only people who were convicted and sentenced in federal district court. People whose cases were dismissed or who were acquitted are not in them. The military numbers come from court-martial results, which include acquittals. To compare acquittal or dismissal rates, the federal side uses a different source: the Federal Judicial Center's case data, which counts every defendant whose case ended.
How "plea" and "trial" are counted. In the federal sentencing numbers, "trial" means the person was convicted after a trial, including people who pleaded guilty to some counts and went to trial on others. People acquitted at trial are not in these numbers at all (see "Who is in each set of numbers"). In the federal case data, the trial rate counts both convictions and acquittals at trial among all defendants whose cases ended, including dismissed cases. Military numbers count contested cases that reached a verdict. These denominators are not the same, and each post states the one it uses.
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.
Type of counsel describes groups of cases, not lawyers. The Federal Judicial Center records the type of counsel at the end of the case. Defendants who hire a lawyer differ from defendants who receive an appointed lawyer in their charges, criminal history, and circumstances, and some defendants change lawyers during a case. Differences in outcomes by type of counsel therefore cannot be credited to the type of lawyer.
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)
- 18 U.S.C. 933, Trafficking in firearms: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2023–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 1001, Statements or entries generally: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 1015, Naturalization, citizenship or alien registry: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 1029, Fraud and related activity in connection with access devices: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- Appointed vs. Retained Lawyers in Federal Criminal Cases: How Cases Ended, 2016–2025
- Are Courts-Martial More Likely to End in Acquittal Than Federal Trials?
- 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.