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# 18 U.S.C. 473, Dealing in counterfeit obligations or securities: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-473-case-outcomes/
- Published: 2026-11-03T06:56:14.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T06:56:14.000Z
- Description: Federal courts closed 72 cases from fiscal years 2016 to 2025 in which 18 U.S.C. 473 was the most serious charge at the end. Of those, 59 (82%) pleaded guilty, 11 (15%) had their cases dismissed, and 2 (3%) went to trial, with 0 acquittals. Of the 61 convicted, 44 (72%) received a prison term on thi
- 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. 473

**In brief:** Federal courts closed 72 cases from fiscal years 2016 to 2025 in which 18 U.S.C. 473 was the most serious charge at the end. Of those, 59 (82%) pleaded guilty, 11 (15%) had their cases dismissed, and 2 (3%) went to trial, with 0 acquittals. Of the 61 convicted, 44 (72%) received a prison term on this charge, and the median term was 21 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 72 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/).

## A Small Group of Felony Cases

Section 473 of Title 18 has the heading "Dealing in counterfeit obligations or securities". The Federal Judicial Center records list 72 defendants for this section over the period. That is a small group, and a few cases can change any percentage noticeably.

Every one of the 72 charges was a felony (100%). The records list 0 Class A misdemeanors and 0 petty offenses.

## Pleas, Dismissals, and 2 Trials

Guilty pleas ended 59 cases (82%). Dismissals ended 11 (15%). A dismissal in these records can include a case the government dropped after the defendant pleaded guilty in a different case.

Only 2 cases went to trial, both before juries, and neither ended in an acquittal (0 of 2). A count of 2 trials cannot support any statement about how often trials under this section end in acquittal.

Altogether, 61 of the 72 (85%) were convicted by plea or at trial.

## Sentences After Conviction

Of the 61 convicted, 44 (72%) were sentenced to prison on this charge. Among those with a term of 1 month or more, the median prison term was 21 months. The median is the middle term when the terms are listed in order.

## Who Represented the Defendants?

Federal public or community defenders represented 30 defendants (42%), with 83% pleading guilty and 10% dismissed. They took the only 2 trials, with 0 acquittals.

CJA panel attorneys, private lawyers appointed by the court, represented 29 defendants (40%). All of them pleaded guilty (100%), and 0% were dismissed.

Private (retained) counsel represented 8 defendants (11%). Of those 8, 5 pleaded guilty and 3 had their cases dismissed.

These are groups of cases, not a measure of the quality of lawyers. People who retain a lawyer and people who are appointed one face different charges and circumstances. With only 8 retained-counsel cases, that group is too small to compare.

| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| -------------------------------------- | ---------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| Federal public or community defender   | 30         | 83%            | 10%       | 2      | 0 (0 of 2)         |
| CJA panel attorney                     | 29         | 100%           | 0%        | 0      | 0                  |
| Private (retained) counsel             | 8          | 5 of 8         | 3 of 8    | 0      | 0                  |

## Cases Over Time

More of these cases ended in the earlier years than in the later ones: 21 in fiscal year 2016, 15 in fiscal year 2017, and 13 in fiscal year 2019\. From fiscal year 2020 on, no year had more than 5\. The yearly counts are too small to describe as a trend.

| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| ----------- | ----------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| 2016        | 21          | 81%            | 19%       | 0      | 0                  |
| 2017        | 15          | 87%            | 7%        | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2018        | 8           | 8 of 8         | 0 of 8    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2019        | 13          | 92%            | 8%        | 0      | 0                  |
| 2020        | 3           | 2 of 3         | 1 of 3    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2021        | 5           | 4 of 5         | 1 of 5    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2022        | 2           | 1 of 2         | 1 of 2    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2023        | 2           | 1 of 2         | 1 of 2    | 0      | 0                  |
| 2024        | 1           | 0 of 1         | 0 of 1    | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2025        | 2           | 1 of 2         | 1 of 2    | 0      | 0                  |

## Limits

Each defendant appears once, under the most serious charge at the end of the case. The records do not show the facts of any case or why it was pleaded, dismissed, or tried. No close court-martial counterpart for this section appears in the approved crosswalk, so the federal numbers are reported alone.

### 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. 473, any subsection (72), 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. 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. 472, Uttering counterfeit obligations or securities: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-472-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)
- [18 U.S.C. 514, Fictitious obligations: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-514-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.