> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# 18 U.S.C. 1920, False statement or fraud to obtain Federal employees’ compensation: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-1920-case-outcomes/
- Published: 2026-11-03T06:56:02.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T06:56:02.000Z
- Description: Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 144 federal defendants had a case end with 18 U.S.C. 1920 as the most serious charge, and 82 of them (57%) faced it as a Class A misdemeanor rather than a felony. Of the 135 convicted, 8 (6%) received a prison term on that charge. Guilty pleas ended 134 cases (93%), a
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › 18 U.S.C. 1920

**In brief:** Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 144 federal defendants had a case end with 18 U.S.C. 1920 as the most serious charge, and 82 of them (57%) faced it as a Class A misdemeanor rather than a felony. Of the 135 convicted, 8 (6%) received a prison term on that charge. Guilty pleas ended 134 cases (93%), and only 1 went to trial.

Updated November 3, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025

This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 144 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/).

## Misdemeanor and Felony Charges

The charge level was split. 62 defendants (43%) faced this section as a felony, and 82 (57%) faced it as a Class A misdemeanor. None was charged at the petty offense level.

Section 1920 of Title 18 is headed "False statement or fraud to obtain Federal employees’ compensation". This post describes the statute only by that heading.

## Few Prison Terms

Convictions by plea or at trial reached 135, which is 94% of the 144.

Only 8 of the 135 convicted defendants (6%) received a prison term on this charge. For those with a term of 1 month or more, the median was 12 months.

The median is the middle term in a ranked list, and with 8 prison terms it rests on very few sentences. It covers the sentence on this section alone. The records summarized here do not show what other sentences the remaining convicted defendants received.

## How the Cases Ended

Of the 144 defendants, 134 (93%) pleaded guilty and 9 (6%) had their cases dismissed. 1 defendant went to a jury trial and was not acquitted.

The Federal Judicial Center counts every defendant whose case ended, including dismissals and acquittals. A dismissal may be on the government's motion, for example after the defendant pleaded guilty in another case.

## Which Lawyers Handled These Cases?

Retained private counsel represented 78 defendants (54%). Federal public or community defenders represented 42 (29%). CJA panel attorneys, who are private lawyers the court appoints, represented 20 (14%). 1 defendant was self-represented.

Guilty pleas ended 100% of cases with a CJA panel attorney, 96% with retained counsel, and 93% with a federal defender. The single trial was in the retained counsel group. The self-represented defendant's case was dismissed.

These figures 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 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   | 42         | 93%            | 7%        | 0      | 0                  |
| CJA panel attorney                     | 20         | 100%           | 0%        | 0      | 0                  |
| Private (retained) counsel             | 78         | 96%            | 3%        | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| Self-represented                       | 1          | 0 of 1         | 1 of 1    | 0      | 0                  |

## Cases by Fiscal Year

Fiscal year 2016 had the most cases end under this section, 46\. Fiscal year 2025 had the fewest, 4\. From fiscal year 2018 on, no year had more than 16.

The 1 trial took place in fiscal year 2017\. Yearly counts this small cannot show a trend.

| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| ----------- | ----------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| 2016        | 46          | 96%            | 4%        | 0      | 0                  |
| 2017        | 24          | 88%            | 8%        | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2018        | 8           | 8 of 8         | 0 of 8    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2019        | 16          | 100%           | 0%        | 0      | 0                  |
| 2020        | 8           | 7 of 8         | 1 of 8    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2021        | 7           | 7 of 7         | 0 of 7    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2022        | 9           | 8 of 9         | 1 of 9    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2023        | 9           | 7 of 9         | 2 of 9    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2024        | 13          | 92%            | 8%        | 0      | 0                  |
| 2025        | 4           | 4 of 4         | 0 of 4    | 0      | 0                  |

## Limits of These Numbers

The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this statute, so only federal numbers appear. The records do not show the amounts involved, the facts of any case, or why a case was charged as a felony or as a misdemeanor.

### 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. 1920, any subsection (144), 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article)
- [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts)
- [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method)
- [18 U.S.C. 1791, Providing or possessing contraband in prison: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-1791-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [18 U.S.C. 1832, Theft of trade secrets: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-1832-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [18 U.S.C. 1951, Interference with commerce by threats or violence: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-1951-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [18 U.S.C. 1952, Interstate and foreign travel or transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-1952-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [Appointed vs. Retained Lawyers in Federal Criminal Cases: How Cases Ended, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-appointed-vs-retained-counsel-outcomes/)
- [Are Courts-Martial More Likely to End in Acquittal Than Federal Trials?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-trial-acquittal-rates-vs-courts-martial/)
- [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source)
- [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.