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# 31 U.S.C. 5324, Structuring transactions to evade reporting requirement prohibited: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-31-usc-5324-case-outcomes/
- Published: 2026-11-03T06:55:42.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T06:55:42.000Z
- Description: Of 414 federal defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case fell under 31 U.S.C. 5324, 339 (82%) pleaded guilty, 63 (15%) had the charges dismissed, and 12 (3%) went to trial. These cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Among the 350 convicted, 193 (55%) received a prison term on
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › 31 U.S.C. 5324

**In brief:** Of 414 federal defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case fell under 31 U.S.C. 5324, 339 (82%) pleaded guilty, 63 (15%) had the charges dismissed, and 12 (3%) went to trial. These cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. Among the 350 convicted, 193 (55%) received a prison term on that charge, and the median term was 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 414 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/).

## Which Cases Are Counted Here

The U.S. Code gives this section the heading "Structuring transactions to evade reporting requirement prohibited". This post uses that heading only and does not describe the conduct the section covers.

The count comes from the Federal Judicial Center. It includes every defendant whose case ended, not only those who were sentenced, so dismissals and acquittals are part of the total. A defendant is counted under 31 U.S.C. 5324 when that section was the most serious charge left at the end of the case.

Every one of the 414 cases was a felony charge. The records list 0 Class A misdemeanors and 0 petty offenses under this section.

## How Many Defendants Went to Prison?

A conviction under this section did not always lead to prison. Of the 350 defendants convicted by plea or at trial, 193 (55%) received a prison term on that charge.

For those with a term of 1 month or more, the median prison term was 18 months. The median is the middle value when all of those terms are put in order from shortest to longest.

The prison count covers only the term on this charge. The records used here do not say what sentence the other convicted defendants received instead.

## Dismissals by Fiscal Year

The share of cases that were dismissed changed from year to year. In fiscal year 2016, 13% of the 102 cases that ended were dismissed. In fiscal year 2025, 35% of the 26 cases that ended were dismissed.

The number of cases also fell over the period, from 102 in fiscal year 2016 to 26 in fiscal year 2025\. With yearly totals this small, a few cases can move a percentage by a large amount, so the yearly figures are best read one year at a time rather than as a trend.

A dismissal is not the same as a finding of innocence. The term includes cases the government asked the court to dismiss, for example after a defendant pleaded guilty in another case.

| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| ----------- | ----------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| 2016        | 102         | 86%            | 13%       | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2017        | 70          | 87%            | 10%       | 2      | 0 (0 of 2)         |
| 2018        | 46          | 67%            | 22%       | 5      | 1 (1 of 5)         |
| 2019        | 40          | 80%            | 15%       | 2      | 0 (0 of 2)         |
| 2020        | 16          | 94%            | 6%        | 0      | 0                  |
| 2021        | 23          | 96%            | 4%        | 0      | 0                  |
| 2022        | 29          | 90%            | 7%        | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2023        | 33          | 73%            | 24%       | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2024        | 29          | 79%            | 21%       | 0      | 0                  |
| 2025        | 26          | 65%            | 35%       | 0      | 0                  |

## Trials and Acquittals

Only 12 of the 414 defendants went to trial. Of those trials, 11 were before a jury and 1 was decided by a judge alone.

1 trial ended in an acquittal, which is 8% of the 12 trials. That acquittal came in a jury trial. The single bench trial did not end in an acquittal.

A count of 12 trials over 10 fiscal years is small. The acquittal share could look quite different with a few more or a few fewer cases.

## Type of Counsel at the End of the Case

Private (retained) counsel represented 248 defendants (60%), the largest group. A CJA panel attorney, a private lawyer appointed by the court, represented 85 (21%). A federal public or community defender represented 48 (12%), and 2 defendants represented themselves.

Guilty pleas were common in every group. The rate was 96% for defendants with a federal defender, 87% for those with a CJA panel attorney, and 88% for those with retained counsel. Dismissals were 2%, 8%, and 10% in the same groups.

These figures describe groups of cases, not the quality of lawyers. Type of counsel is recorded at the end of the case, and people who hire a lawyer often face different charges and circumstances than people who receive an appointed one.

| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| -------------------------------------- | ---------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| Federal public or community defender   | 48         | 96%            | 2%        | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| CJA panel attorney                     | 85         | 87%            | 8%        | 4      | 1 (1 of 4)         |
| Private (retained) counsel             | 248        | 88%            | 10%       | 7      | 0 (0 of 7)         |
| Self-represented                       | 2          | 2 of 2         | 0 of 2    | 0      | 0                  |

## Limits of These Records

The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this statute, so the post reports federal numbers on their own and makes no military comparison.

The records count cases by their most serious remaining charge. They do not describe the facts of any case, the evidence, or the reasons a prosecutor dismissed a charge or a jury acquitted.

### 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 31 U.S.C. 5324, any subsection (414), 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)
- [31 U.S.C. 5316, Reports on exporting and importing monetary instruments: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2024](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-31-usc-5316-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [31 U.S.C. 5332, Bulk cash smuggling into or out of the United States: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-31-usc-5332-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.