Commercial Litigation Update

Our colleagues Thomas Jaworski, Elena M. Quattrone, and Maurice Wells published an Insight that will be of interest to readers involved in white collar defense: “Recalibrating Economic Crime Sentencing: The U.S. Sentencing Commission’s Proposed Reforms to Section 2B1.1 and What They Mean for the Defense Bar.”

What You Need to Know:

The U.S. Sentencing Commission (the “Commission”) has proposed amendments to federal fraud sentencing guidelines and is soliciting comments from the public.

• Simplified Loss Table: The proposed amendments reduce the 16-tier loss table to eight broader tiers, aiming to simplify sentencing and reduce disputes over marginal loss amounts.
• Focus on Culpability and Harm: New guidelines emphasize non-economic victim harm (e.g., emotional trauma) and introduce mitigating factors for defendants acting under coercion or showing early remediation.
• Retroactivity and Public Input: The Commission is considering retroactive application of these changes and invites public comments by February 10, 2026, ahead of a May 1, 2026, deadline for Congressional submission.

Read the full Insight here.

On December 26, 2023, the U.S. Sentencing Commission (“USSC”) proposed several amendments to its Guidelines Manual (the “Guidelines”). Two of these proposed amendments have the potential to especially impact sentencing decisions in white collar criminal cases. In particular,  one amendment changes the rule for calculating loss, and another provides new options regarding the consideration of acquitted conduct.

Rule for Calculating Loss

The USSC’s proposed revision to the Guidelines’ rules for calculating loss arises out of an effort to continually evaluate and ...