Federal Conspiracy Law: A Brief Overview
"Zacarias Moussaoui, members of the Colombian drug cartels, members of organized crime, and
some of the former Enron executives have at least one thing in common: they all have federal
conspiracy convictions. The essence of conspiracy is an agreement of two or more persons to
engage in some form of prohibited misconduct. The crime is complete upon agreement, although
some statutes require prosecutors to show that at least one of the conspirators has taken some
concrete step or committed some overt act in furtherance of the scheme. There are dozens of
federal conspiracy statutes. One, 18 U.S.C. 371, outlaws conspiracy to commit some other federal
crime. The others outlaw conspiracy to engage in various specific forms of proscribed conduct.
General Section 371 conspiracies are punishable by imprisonment for not more than five years;
drug trafficking, terrorist, and racketeering conspiracies all carry the same penalties as their
underlying substantive offenses, and thus are punished more severely than are Section 371
conspiracies. All are subject to fines of not more than $250,000 (not more than $500,000 for
organizations), most may serve as the basis for a restitution order, and some for a forfeiture order..."