31 U.S.C. 5332, Bulk cash smuggling into or out of the United States: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 751 federal defendants had a case end with 31 U.S.C. 5332 as the most serious charge, and 692 of them (92%) pleaded guilty. Only 11 (1%) went to trial, and 3 of those trials ended in an acquittal. Of the 700 defendants convicted, 581 (83%) received a prison term on that
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › 31 U.S.C. 5332
In brief: In fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 751 federal defendants had a case end with 31 U.S.C. 5332 as the most serious charge, and 692 of them (92%) pleaded guilty. Only 11 (1%) went to trial, and 3 of those trials ended in an acquittal. Of the 700 defendants convicted, 581 (83%) received a prison term on that charge, with a median of 13 months.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 751 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 Were the Usual Result
Section 5332 of Title 31 carries the heading "Bulk cash smuggling into or out of the United States". The counts below come from the Federal Judicial Center and include every defendant whose case ended, whether by plea, dismissal, or trial.
A guilty plea ended 692 of the 751 cases (92%). Another 48 defendants (6%) had the charges dismissed. Counting pleas and trial verdicts together, 700 of the 751 (93%) were convicted.
The plea rate was 89% or higher in every fiscal year from 2016 to 2025. The yearly table shows the count of cases that ended in each year.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 106 | 89% | 8% | 4 | 2 (2 of 4) |
| 2017 | 70 | 89% | 10% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2018 | 63 | 94% | 3% | 2 | 0 (0 of 2) |
| 2019 | 88 | 89% | 10% | 1 | 1 (1 of 1) |
| 2020 | 63 | 89% | 10% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2021 | 97 | 96% | 4% | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 59 | 95% | 3% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| 2023 | 75 | 96% | 4% | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 66 | 97% | 3% | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 64 | 91% | 8% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
Prison Terms on This Charge
Most convictions under this section led to prison. Of the 700 convicted defendants, 581 (83%) received a prison term on the 31 U.S.C. 5332 charge.
Among defendants whose term was 1 month or longer, the median was 13 months. A median is the value in the middle of the list once every term is sorted by length.
The term counted here is the term on this charge only. Defendants could also have been sentenced on other charges, and those sentences are not part of this count.
What Level of Charge Was It?
Each of the 751 charges was recorded as a felony. No defendant in this group had the section charged as a Class A misdemeanor or a petty offense.
This matters for reading the plea numbers. Every case here involved a felony charge at the end of the case, so the outcomes are not mixed with minor offenses.
The 11 Trials
Trials were uncommon. Of the 11 trials, 8 were jury trials and 3 were bench trials, decided by a judge without a jury.
3 of the 11 trials (27%) ended in an acquittal. 2 of the 8 jury trials ended that way, and so did 1 of the 3 bench trials.
The acquittal share rests on very few trials. Fiscal year 2016 had 4 trials, with 2 acquittals, while fiscal years 2021, 2023, and 2024 had none. A rate built on 11 trials can change a lot with one more verdict either way.
Who Represented the Defendants
Retained private lawyers represented 351 defendants (47%). A federal public or community defender represented 215 (29%). A CJA panel attorney, meaning a private lawyer appointed by the court, represented 176 (23%).
The guilty plea rate was 93% in each of the 3 groups. Dismissals were 6% with a federal defender, 6% with a CJA panel attorney, and 5% with retained counsel. Retained counsel had 7 of the trials, federal defenders had 3, and CJA panel attorneys had 1.
None of these numbers measure how well any lawyer performed. The records note type of counsel at the end of the case, and defendants who hire a lawyer face different charges and circumstances than those who receive an appointed lawyer. The figures describe groups of cases only.
| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal public or community defender | 215 | 93% | 6% | 3 | 1 (1 of 3) |
| CJA panel attorney | 176 | 93% | 6% | 1 | 0 (0 of 1) |
| Private (retained) counsel | 351 | 93% | 5% | 7 | 2 (2 of 7) |
What the Counts Leave Out
No close court-martial counterpart for this statute appears in the approved crosswalk, so there is no military comparison in this post.
A dismissal in these records can include a charge dropped on the government's motion, for example after the defendant pleaded guilty in a different case. The data does not give the reason for any dismissal or verdict, and it says nothing about the facts of individual cases.
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. 5332, any subsection (751), 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)
- 31 U.S.C. 5316, Reports on exporting and importing monetary instruments: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2024 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 31 U.S.C. 5324, Structuring transactions to evade reporting requirement prohibited: 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.