Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $95,001 to $550,000, Fiscal Year 2025
In fiscal year 2025, 1,227 people were sentenced in federal court for theft or fraud with a loss between $95,001 and $550,000. Of them, 928 (76%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 18 months. A quarter of those prison terms were 6 months or less.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $95,001 to › $95,001 to $550,000: FY2025
In brief: In fiscal year 2025, 1,227 people were sentenced in federal court for theft or fraud with a loss between $95,001 and $550,000. Of them, 928 (76%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 18 months. A quarter of those prison terms were 6 months or less.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 1,227 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended 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.
Shorter Terms at the Low End
Among the 928 people sent to prison, the median prison term was 18 months. The shortest quarter of terms were 6 months or less. The longest quarter were 30 months or more.
For people who pleaded guilty, the median prison term was also 18 months. For people convicted at trial, it was 24 months. That trial figure is based on 25 people who were convicted at trial and sent to prison, so it describes a small group.
Probation Instead of Prison
Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, was the sentence for 220 people. That is 18% of the 1,227.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 112 people (9%). The data does not say which law set each minimum.
How Cases Reached Sentencing
A guilty plea resolved 1,200 of the 1,227 cases, or 98%. The other 27 people were convicted after a trial.
Of those who pleaded guilty, 94% did so under a written plea agreement. The other 6% made a straight plea, with no agreement with the government.
Position Against the Guideline Range
Each of the 1,227 records shows how the sentence compared with the guideline range. The largest group was below the range without a government request, at 38% (468).
Below-range sentences requested by the government came next, at 31% (378). Sentences inside the range were 29% (360). Sentences above the range were 2% (21).
Release Conditions, Repayment, and Criminal History
A term of supervised release after prison was ordered for 896 people (73%). The median term was 36 months.
Restitution, which requires repayment to victims, was ordered for 1,101 people (90%). A fine was ordered for 87 people (7%).
In fiscal year 2025, 73% of the group were in category I, the lowest criminal history category. Only 3% were in category VI, the highest.
Fiscal Year 2025 Beside the Wider Numbers
The band counted 12,709 people over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, with a 78% prison rate and a 20-month median prison term. In 2025, both the prison rate and the median were lower than those all-years figures.
Across every §2B1.1 loss band in fiscal year 2025, 4,804 people were sentenced. Of them, 75% went to prison, with a median prison term of 20.5 months. This band's prison rate was about the same as that wider group's, and its median was lower.
The table shows each fiscal year in this band, including the count of people sentenced and the plea rate.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1,670 | 21 months | 96% |
| 2017 | 1,489 | 21 months | 96% |
| 2018 | 1,328 | 21 months | 95% |
| 2019 | 1,283 | 21 months | 96% |
| 2020 | 944 | 21 months | 98% |
| 2021 | 1,013 | 20.5 months | 99% |
| 2022 | 1,228 | 20.1 months | 98% |
| 2023 | 1,247 | 21 months | 96% |
| 2024 | 1,280 | 18 months | 97% |
| 2025 | 1,227 | 18 months | 98% |
What the Sentencing Data Covers
The U.S. Sentencing Commission records only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquitted defendants and dismissed cases are not part of the count. Fiscal year 2025 ran from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025.
The band limits are steps in the loss table of guideline §2B1.1. Court-martial larceny records rarely list a dollar value, so there is no matching military count. The figures cannot show what happened in any single case.
How We Counted
People sentenced in fiscal year 2025 under guideline §2B1.1 whose recorded dollar loss falls in the band "$95,001 to $550,000" (1,227), U.S. Sentencing Commission (LOSSHI).
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
Different cases reach each system. Federal prosecutors bring a narrow set of cases. In fiscal year 2024, immigration and drug trafficking cases were 59% of everyone sentenced in federal court (36,664 of 61,678). Many crimes that the military prosecutes, such as most assaults, most sexual assaults between adults, and drug use, are usually state crimes for civilians and reach federal court only in special situations, such as on federal land or in Indian Country. A federal case and a court-martial for the same crime can involve different kinds of facts.
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
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.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
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)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $95,001 to $550,000, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $95,001 to $550,000, Fiscal Year 2024 (previous or next year)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With No Dollar Loss, Fiscal Year 2025 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $1,000 or Less, Fiscal Year 2025 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $1,001 to $15,000, Fiscal Year 2025 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $15,001 to $95,000, Fiscal Year 2025 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $550,001 to $3.5 Million, Fiscal Year 2025 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss Over $3.5 Million, Fiscal Year 2025 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With the Loss Amount Not Specified, Fiscal Year 2025 (same year, other loss band)
- Theft and Fraud by Dollar Loss: Federal Sentences vs. Article 121 Courts-Martial
- Army Article 121 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025 (court-martial data)
- Air Force Article 121 Cases by the Numbers, 2016–2025 (court-martial data)
- How Has Article 121 Changed in Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial Since 2017? (court-martial data)
- Article 121 (Larceny): Court-Martial Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Article 121 UCMJ: Larceny and Wrongful Appropriation (law firm reference page)
- 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.