18 U.S.C. 513, Securities of the States and private entities: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
Of 227 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 with 18 U.S.C. 513 as the most serious charge, 196 (86%) pleaded guilty and 30 (13%) had their charges dismissed. Only 1 went to trial. Of the 197 convicted, 152 (77%) received a prison term, with a median of 24 months (2 years
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › 18 U.S.C. 513
In brief: Of 227 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 with 18 U.S.C. 513 as the most serious charge, 196 (86%) pleaded guilty and 30 (13%) had their charges dismissed. Only 1 went to trial. Of the 197 convicted, 152 (77%) received a prison term, with a median of 24 months (2 years).
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 227 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.
Guilty Pleas and Dismissals
Nearly every case under this section ended without a trial. Guilty pleas ended 196 cases (86%), and dismissals ended 30 (13%).
A dismissal in the Federal Judicial Center records can include charges the government dropped after the defendant pleaded guilty in a separate case. The count of dismissals is therefore not a count of people who left federal court with no conviction.
In total, 197 of the 227 defendants (87%) were convicted, by plea or at trial.
Which Section Is Covered
This post covers title 18, section 513 of the U.S. Code, headed "Securities of the States and private entities".
Each of the 227 defendants is counted by the most serious charge at the end of the case. The cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Unlike sentencing data, this count includes people whose charges were dismissed or who were acquitted.
The Single Trial
Only 1 defendant (less than 1%) went to trial. A jury heard the case, and it did not end in an acquittal (0 of 1). There were no bench trials.
A single trial cannot support an acquittal rate for this section. The record shows only that trials were almost absent.
Charge Level and Prison Terms
All 227 charges were felonies (100%).
Of the 197 people convicted, 152 (77%) received a prison term on this charge. Among terms of 1 month or more, the median was 24 months (2 years). The median is the middle term in ranked order. It does not describe the range of terms.
Who Represented the Defendants?
CJA panel attorneys, who are private lawyers appointed by the court, were recorded for 84 defendants (37%). Federal public or community defenders were recorded for 80 (35%), and private (retained) counsel for 49 (22%). The records list 1 defendant as self-represented, and that case was dismissed.
Guilty plea rates were 93% for the federal defender group, 90% for the CJA panel group, and 94% for private counsel. Dismissal rates were 8%, 8%, and 6%. The only trial was in the CJA panel group.
These numbers describe groups of cases, not the quality of lawyers. People with appointed counsel and people who hire a lawyer 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 | 80 | 93% | 8% | 0 | 0 |
| CJA panel attorney | 84 | 90% | 8% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| Private (retained) counsel | 49 | 94% | 6% | 0 | 0 |
| Self-represented | 1 | 0 of 1 | 1 of 1 | 0 | 0 |
Changes Across Fiscal Years
The most cases ended in fiscal year 2016, with 55. Fiscal year 2024 had the fewest, with 8, and it was the year of the only trial.
Dismissal rates moved from year to year, from 0% in fiscal year 2021 to 22% in fiscal year 2020. With yearly counts this small, these shifts do not show a trend.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 55 | 85% | 15% | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 32 | 91% | 9% | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 34 | 79% | 21% | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 28 | 93% | 7% | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 18 | 78% | 22% | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 11 | 100% | 0% | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 13 | 85% | 15% | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 18 | 83% | 17% | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 8 | 7 of 8 | 0 of 8 | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2025 | 10 | 90% | 10% | 0 | 0 |
What the Records Do Not Show
The data record outcomes, not reasons. They do not explain plea agreements, dismissals, or sentences. No close court-martial counterpart for this section appears in the approved crosswalk, so only federal cases are reported.
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. 513, any subsection (227), 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. 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)
- 18 U.S.C. 514, Fictitious obligations: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 545, Smuggling goods into the United States: 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.