18 U.S.C. 1038, False information and hoaxes: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
Of the 129 federal defendants convicted under 18 U.S.C. 1038 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 102 (79%) received a prison term on that charge. The median term was 20 months. In all, 149 defendants had a case end with this section as the most serious charge, and 85% of them pleaded guilty.
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In brief: Of the 129 federal defendants convicted under 18 U.S.C. 1038 in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 102 (79%) received a prison term on that charge. The median term was 20 months. In all, 149 defendants had a case end with this section as the most serious charge, and 85% of them pleaded guilty.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 149 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.
Who Received a Prison Term
Convictions numbered 129, or 87% of the 149 defendants. That count combines guilty pleas and guilty verdicts at trial.
A prison term on this charge was imposed on 102 of the 129. For people whose term was 1 month or more, the median was 20 months.
A median is the middle value once all terms are put in order. It reflects only the sentence on this charge, not time ordered on other counts in the same case.
Which Federal Defenders Handled These Cases?
Federal public or community defenders represented 104 of the 149 defendants (70%). Private (retained) counsel represented 24 (16%). CJA panel attorneys, who are private lawyers appointed by the court, represented 20 (13%).
Guilty pleas ended 87% of cases with a federal defender, 85% with a CJA panel attorney, and 79% with retained counsel. Dismissals were 11%, 10%, and 21% in the same order. All 4 trials involved appointed counsel: 3 with a federal defender, ending in 1 acquittal, and 1 with a CJA panel attorney, ending in a conviction.
These counts describe groups of cases and say nothing about the quality of any lawyer. The records note type of counsel at the end of the case. Defendants who retain a lawyer and those who are given one 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 | 104 | 87% | 11% | 3 | 1 (1 of 3) |
| CJA panel attorney | 20 | 85% | 10% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| Private (retained) counsel | 24 | 79% | 21% | 0 | 0 |
The Section and Its Heading
In Title 18 of the U.S. Code, section 1038 is headed "False information and hoaxes". This post refers to the statute only by that official heading.
Every one of the 149 defendants faced this charge as a felony. No Class A misdemeanor or petty offense under this section appears in the records.
Guilty Pleas, Dismissals, and 4 Trials
Pleas of guilty closed 126 cases (85%). Another 19 (13%) ended with the charges dismissed. Only 4 (3%) went to trial.
All 4 trials were jury trials, and 1 ended in an acquittal (1 of 4). No bench trial, decided by a judge alone, is recorded. With so few trials, the records cannot support an acquittal rate for this section.
A dismissal in this data means the charges were dismissed. That includes dismissals on the government's motion, such as after the defendant pleaded guilty in a different case.
Year-by-Year Counts
Yearly totals ranged from 9 cases in fiscal year 2024 to 20 in both fiscal year 2022 and fiscal year 2025. In fiscal year 2017, all 16 cases ended in a guilty plea.
Fiscal year 2019 had the lowest plea rate, 67%, and the highest dismissal rate, 33%, among 15 cases. With yearly counts this small, a single year's rate can move with just a few cases. The records do not explain the changes.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 17 | 94% | 6% | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 16 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 16 | 94% | 0% | 1 | 1 (1 of 1) |
| 2019 | 15 | 67% | 33% | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 13 | 85% | 15% | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 13 | 77% | 23% | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 20 | 75% | 15% | 2 | 0 (0 of 2) |
| 2023 | 10 | 80% | 20% | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 9 | 8 of 9 | 1 of 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 20 | 85% | 10% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
Limits of the Data
No close court-martial counterpart for this statute is listed in the approved crosswalk, so only federal figures appear here. The records hold no facts about the conduct in any case. They also do not record why a charge was dismissed or why a jury acquitted.
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. 1038, any subsection (149), 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. 1031, Major fraud against the United States: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 1035, False statements relating to health care matters: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 1040, Fraud in connection with major disaster or emergency benefits: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 1071, Concealing person from arrest: 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.