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# 18 U.S.C. 472, Uttering counterfeit obligations or securities: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-472-case-outcomes/
- Published: 2026-11-03T06:55:29.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T06:55:29.000Z
- Description: In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 898 federal defendants had their cases end with 18 U.S.C. 472 as the most serious charge, and 811 of them (90%) pleaded guilty. Only 9 (1%) went to trial, and 1 of those 9 trials ended in an acquittal. Of the 819 convicted, 647 (79%) received a prison term on this charg
- 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. 472

**In brief:** In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 898 federal defendants had their cases end with 18 U.S.C. 472 as the most serious charge, and 811 of them (90%) pleaded guilty. Only 9 (1%) went to trial, and 1 of those 9 trials ended in an acquittal. Of the 819 convicted, 647 (79%) received a prison term on this charge, with a median of 18 months.

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 898 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/).

## Nearly Every Case Ended in a Guilty Plea

This post covers Title 18, section 472 of the U.S. Code, headed "Uttering counterfeit obligations or securities". The Federal Judicial Center records list 898 defendants whose case ended with a charge under it as the most serious one.

Guilty pleas ended 811 of those cases (90%). Dismissals ended 78 (9%). Trials accounted for the remaining 9 (1%).

In total, 819 of the 898 (91%) were convicted, either by plea or at trial. The count follows the federal courts' Table D-4, which includes every defendant whose case ended, not just those who were sentenced.

## Every Charge Was a Felony

All 898 defendants (100%) faced this charge at the felony level. The records list 0 Class A misdemeanors and 0 petty offenses under this section.

That makes the group more uniform than sections where misdemeanors and felonies are mixed.

## How Long Were the Prison Terms?

Of the 819 people convicted, 647 (79%) were sentenced to a prison term on this charge. The rest received no prison term on it.

The median prison term was 18 months. This figure covers only defendants with a term of 1 month or more. A median is the middle term in the ordered list, so it says nothing about the range at either end.

## The 9 Trials

With only 9 trials over the period, the trial numbers are a count, not a rate to rely on. Of those 9, 1 ended in an acquittal.

Juries heard 6 of the trials, and 1 of those 6 ended in an acquittal. Judges decided the other 3 as bench trials, with 0 acquittals (0 of 3).

## Which Lawyers Handled These Cases

Appointed lawyers handled most of these cases. CJA panel attorneys, private lawyers appointed by the court, represented 411 defendants (46%). Federal public or community defenders represented 404 (45%). Private (retained) counsel represented 62 (7%).

The groups had similar plea rates: 93% for CJA panel attorneys, 92% for federal defenders, and 95% for retained counsel. Dismissal rates were 7%, 6%, and 5% in the same order.

Federal defenders took 7 cases to trial, with 1 acquittal. CJA panel attorneys took 2 to trial, with 0 acquittals. Retained counsel took none to trial.

Counsel type is recorded at the end of the case. People who hire a lawyer and people who receive an appointed lawyer face different charges and circumstances. These figures describe groups of cases, not the quality of lawyers.

| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| -------------------------------------- | ---------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| Federal public or community defender   | 404        | 92%            | 6%        | 7      | 1 (1 of 7)         |
| CJA panel attorney                     | 411        | 93%            | 7%        | 2      | 0 (0 of 2)         |
| Private (retained) counsel             | 62         | 95%            | 5%        | 0      | 0                  |

## Cases by Fiscal Year

The number of cases ending each year was highest in fiscal year 2016, at 159, and lowest in fiscal year 2024, at 38\. Fiscal year 2025 had 49.

The share dismissed was highest in fiscal year 2022, at 20% of 59 cases. The only acquittal came in fiscal year 2018, in 1 of 2 trials that year. A federal fiscal year starts in October.

The records show these year-to-year changes but cannot show their causes.

| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| ----------- | ----------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| 2016        | 159         | 91%            | 7%        | 4      | 0 (0 of 4)         |
| 2017        | 124         | 96%            | 3%        | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2018        | 123         | 85%            | 14%       | 2      | 1 (1 of 2)         |
| 2019        | 137         | 92%            | 7%        | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2020        | 98          | 90%            | 10%       | 0      | 0                  |
| 2021        | 56          | 91%            | 7%        | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2022        | 59          | 80%            | 20%       | 0      | 0                  |
| 2023        | 55          | 89%            | 11%       | 0      | 0                  |
| 2024        | 38          | 95%            | 5%        | 0      | 0                  |
| 2025        | 49          | 96%            | 4%        | 0      | 0                  |

## What the Numbers Leave Out

Each person appears once, under the most serious charge left when the case ended. Someone first charged under this section but finally convicted of something else is not in this count. There is no close court-martial counterpart for this section in the approved crosswalk, so no military comparison is made.

### 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. 472, any subsection (898), 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. 401, Power of court: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-401-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [18 U.S.C. 471, Obligations or securities of United States: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-471-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [18 U.S.C. 473, Dealing in counterfeit obligations or securities: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-473-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [18 U.S.C. 513, Securities of the States and private entities: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-513-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.