Conspiracy is usually a felony, but it can be a misdemeanor, and which one you face depends almost entirely on the crime you allegedly agreed to commit. Under the main federal conspiracy statute, agreeing to commit a federal felony exposes you to up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while agreeing to commit a misdemeanor cannot be punished more harshly than that misdemeanor itself. Other federal conspiracy laws go much further, and state rules add their own wrinkles.
How the Main Federal Conspiracy Statute Classifies the Charge
The general federal conspiracy law, 18 U.S.C. § 371, makes it a crime to conspire to commit any federal offense or to defraud the United States. The penalty tracks the target crime. If the planned offense is a felony, the conspiracy carries up to five years in prison. If the planned offense is a misdemeanor, the conspiracy penalty cannot exceed the maximum punishment for that misdemeanor.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 371 – Conspiracy to Commit Offense or to Defraud United States
Fines come from the general federal schedule. An individual convicted of a felony faces up to $250,000. For a Class A misdemeanor, the ceiling is $100,000.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 3571 – Sentence of Fine
So the short answer under § 371: felony target, felony conspiracy, five-year cap. Misdemeanor target, misdemeanor conspiracy, capped at the misdemeanor’s own ceiling.
Federal Conspiracy Statutes That Punish Much Harder
Section 371 is not the only federal conspiracy law, and the five-year cap only applies to conspiracies charged under that specific statute. Several other federal statutes peg conspiracy penalties directly to the completed crime, and the exposure can be dramatically larger.
- Drug conspiracy under 21 U.S.C. § 846 carries the same penalties as the completed drug offense. For large-scale trafficking of drugs like heroin or fentanyl, that can mean a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 21 USC 846 – Attempt and Conspiracy
- Fraud conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1349 covers wire fraud, bank fraud, health care fraud, and any other offense in the federal fraud chapter, and it carries the same penalties as the completed fraud. Wire fraud alone can mean up to 20 years in prison.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 1349 – Attempt and Conspiracy
This is the point that trips people up. If you read that “federal conspiracy” tops out at five years, you may be reading about § 371 and missing the statute that actually applies to your case. A drug or fraud conspiracy indictment is a felony with the same ceiling as the underlying crime.
What a Conspiracy Charge Actually Requires
A conspiracy is an agreement between two or more people to commit a crime, together with the intent to actually follow through. The agreement itself is the crime. Prosecutors do not have to prove that anyone succeeded in carrying out the plan, or even came close.
The agreement does not have to be written, spoken in explicit terms, or formally announced. Courts routinely infer it from how people behaved, communicated, and coordinated. Most federal courts and a majority of states also require at least one “overt act” to advance the plan. The step itself does not have to be illegal. Buying supplies, renting a vehicle, or opening a bank account can qualify if done to further the plan.5Legal Information Institute. Conspiracy
Conspiracy Stacks on Top of the Completed Crime
One feature of conspiracy law surprises most defendants: you can be convicted of both the conspiracy and the crime that was planned, with no double jeopardy problem. If you and a partner conspired to rob a bank and then robbed the bank, prosecutors can charge and convict you for both, and the sentences can run consecutively.6Legal Information Institute. Imposition of Multiple Punishments for the Same Offense
The reverse is also true. A conspiracy conviction can stand even if the planned crime never happened, as long as the agreement existed, the intent was real, and (where required) an overt act was taken.
Pinkerton Liability: You May Be on the Hook for What Others Did
Under the 1946 Supreme Court decision in Pinkerton v. United States, every member of a conspiracy can be held criminally responsible for crimes committed by other members, even crimes the person did not know about, did not participate in, and did not specifically agree to. The crime has to have been committed in furtherance of the conspiracy and have been reasonably foreseeable as a consequence of the group’s plan.7Justia. Pinkerton v United States
In practice this means a person who played a minor role in planning a robbery can be held liable for a murder a co-conspirator committed during that robbery, if the violence was a foreseeable outcome. The test has four parts: membership in the conspiracy, the crime fell within the scope of the conspiracy’s objectives, it was committed in furtherance of those objectives, and it was reasonably foreseeable as a natural consequence of the plan.8Legal Information Institute. Pinkerton Liability So when you ask whether a conspiracy charge is a felony, the honest answer sometimes includes crimes you did not personally commit.
State Conspiracy Laws
State approaches vary widely. Some states follow the federal model and tie the conspiracy’s classification to the severity of the target crime. Others use tiered conspiracy statutes that assign specific felony or misdemeanor grades based on the category of the planned offense. A handful of states treat certain conspiracies as a fixed felony class regardless of the target crime. The same conspiratorial agreement can carry very different penalties depending on where it is prosecuted, so the state code and the specific charging statute matter more than any general rule.
Why Felony vs. Misdemeanor Matters Beyond the Sentence
The classification follows a person well past release. Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison from possessing firearms or ammunition.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts That covers virtually every felony conspiracy conviction. Voting rights are affected in most states too, with the specifics ranging from loss only during incarceration to indefinite loss for certain offenses.
Then come the practical consequences no statute spells out. Background checks disqualify applicants from entire industries. Professional licensing boards in fields like law, medicine, and finance routinely deny or revoke licenses after a felony conviction. Housing, loans, and child custody proceedings can all be affected.
A misdemeanor conspiracy conviction still leaves a criminal record, but jail time is typically under a year, fines are lower, and the collateral impact on employment, licensing, and civil rights is generally more limited. Expungement or record sealing is often easier to obtain for misdemeanors, though eligibility and waiting periods vary by jurisdiction.
If you are facing a conspiracy charge, the question that actually determines your exposure is not whether conspiracy “is” a felony or misdemeanor in the abstract, but which conspiracy statute you are charged under and what crime that statute says you agreed to commit. The answer to those two questions sets the ceiling.