18 U.S.C. 471, Obligations or securities of United States: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
Federal defendants convicted under 18 U.S.C. 471 who received a prison term of 1 month or more had a median term of 24 months (2 years). That figure covers cases that ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Of 392 defendants in that period, 369 (94%) pleaded guilty, 19 (5%) had their cases dismissed, an
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In brief: Federal defendants convicted under 18 U.S.C. 471 who received a prison term of 1 month or more had a median term of 24 months (2 years). That figure covers cases that ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Of 392 defendants in that period, 369 (94%) pleaded guilty, 19 (5%) had their cases dismissed, and 4 (1%) went to trial, with 0 acquittals.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 392 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.
Prison Terms on a Section 471 Charge
Section 471 of Title 18 is headed "Obligations or securities of United States". The Federal Judicial Center records count 392 defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case was under this section.
Of those, 373 (95%) were convicted. Among the 373, 327 (88%) received a prison term on this charge. The median term for those sentenced to 1 month or more was 24 months, or 2 years.
The median is the middle value of those terms. It says nothing about the shortest or longest term.
Level of the Charge
The records list every one of the 392 charges as a felony (100%). None were Class A misdemeanors and none were petty offenses.
This is the charge level at the end of the case. A charge filed at one level and later reduced would show its final level here.
How the 392 Cases Ended
A guilty plea ended 369 cases (94%). The charges were dismissed in 19 cases (5%). That count includes cases the government moved to dismiss, such as when the defendant had pleaded guilty in another case.
Only 4 cases (1%) went to trial. All 4 ended in a conviction: 0 of 4 trials ended in an acquittal. Juries decided 3 of them and a judge decided 1 as a bench trial.
The counting method matches the federal courts' Table D-4. It includes every defendant whose case ended, including dismissals, not only those who reached sentencing.
Counsel Recorded at the End of the Case
Federal public or community defenders represented 198 defendants (51%). CJA panel attorneys, who are private lawyers appointed by the court, represented 153 (39%). Private (retained) counsel represented 38 (10%), and 1 defendant was self-represented.
Guilty plea rates were 97% for federal defenders, 95% for CJA panel attorneys, and 84% for retained counsel. Dismissal rates were 2%, 5%, and 16% in that order. Federal defenders had 3 trials and CJA panel attorneys had 1, with 0 acquittals in either group.
A caution applies to all of these numbers. They describe groups of cases, not the quality of lawyers. Defendants who hire a lawyer and those who receive an appointed one face different charges and circumstances, and the records do not adjust for that.
| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal public or community defender | 198 | 97% | 2% | 3 | 0 (0 of 3) |
| CJA panel attorney | 153 | 95% | 5% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| Private (retained) counsel | 38 | 84% | 16% | 0 | 0 |
| Self-represented | 1 | 0 of 1 | 1 of 1 | 0 | 0 |
Fewer Cases in Later Years
The yearly count of cases ending under this section was 77 in fiscal year 2016 and 7 in fiscal year 2025. Fiscal year 2018 had 70 cases, and fiscal year 2024 had 12.
Guilty pleas ended 100% of cases in both fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2022, with 0% dismissed. In fiscal year 2025, all 7 cases (7 of 7) ended in a guilty plea.
The records do not explain the decline in cases, and these numbers cannot show a cause.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 77 | 96% | 3% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2017 | 52 | 90% | 8% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2018 | 70 | 97% | 3% | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 60 | 92% | 8% | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 34 | 88% | 9% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2021 | 32 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 26 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 22 | 86% | 9% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2024 | 12 | 92% | 8% | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 7 | 7 of 7 | 0 of 7 | 0 | 0 |
What These Records Cannot Show
Each defendant is counted once, by the most serious charge at the end of the case. The data does not describe the facts of any case or the reasons for a plea or dismissal. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this section, so no military numbers are compared here.
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. 471, any subsection (392), 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. 371, Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 401, Power of court: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 472, Uttering counterfeit obligations or securities: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 473, Dealing in counterfeit obligations or securities: 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.