DOJ Criminal Division Updates (Part 1): DOJ’s New White Collar Crime Enforcement Plan

On May 12, DOJ’s Criminal Division head, Matthew G. Galeotti, issued a memo to all Criminal Division personnel, entitled “Focus, Fairness, and Efficiency in the Fight Against White-Collar Crime,” to “outline the Criminal Division’s enforcement priorities and policies for prosecuting corporate and white-collar crimes in the new administration.” The memo highlights 10 priority areas for investigation and prosecution, calls for a revision of the Division’s Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy to provide increased incentives to corporations, and previews “streamlining corporate investigations” with an emphasis on fairness and efficiency as well as a reduction in corporate monitorships.

Ten Priority Areas for Investigation and Prosecution

The memo enumerates the following ten areas of focus:

1. Health care fraud;
2. Trade and customs fraud, including tariff evasion;
3. Fraud perpetrated through VIEs (variable interest entities);
4. Fraud that victimizes U.S. investors, such as Ponzi schemes and investment fraud;
5. Sanctions violations or conduct that enable transactions by cartels, TCOs, hostile nation-states, and/or foreign terrorist organizations;
6. Provision of material support to foreign terrorist organizations;
7. Complex money laundering, including schemes involving illegal drugs;
8. Violations of the Controlled Substances Act and the FDCA (Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act);
9. Bribery and money-laundering that impact U.S. national interests, undermine U.S. national security, harm the competitiveness of U.S. business, and enrich foreign corrupt officials; and
10. Digital asset crimes, with high priority to cases involving cartels, TCOs, drug money-laundering or sanctions evasion.

These 10 areas of focus — and the order in which they are listed — echo the priorities laid out in the Trump administration’s enforcement-related executive orders and memos published to date.[1]

More broadly, Galeotti described the priorities as DOJ’s effort to “strike an appropriate balance between the need to effectively identify, investigate, and prosecute corporate and individuals’ criminal wrongdoing while minimizing unnecessary burdens on American enterprise.” Galeotti explained that “[t]he vast majority of American business are legitimate enterprises working to deliver value for their shareholders and quality products and services for customers” and therefore “[p]rosecutors must avoid overreach that punishes risk-taking and hinders innovation.” Galeotti also makes clear that DOJ attorneys “are to be guided by three core tenets: (1) focus; (2) fairness; and (3) efficiency.” He also directed the Criminal Division’s Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program be amended to reflect these priority areas of focus.[2]

Emphasis on Individuals and Leniency Toward Corporations

Galeotti emphasized the Criminal Division’s focus on prosecuting individuals and the need to further take into account the efforts put forth by corporations to remediate the actions of individual bad actors. Galeotti promised the Criminal Division would “investigate these individual wrongdoers relentlessly to hold them accountable” and directed the revision of the Division’s Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy (CEP) to provide more opportunities for leniency where it is determined corporate criminal resolutions are necessary for companies that self-disclose and fully cooperate. These revisions include shorter terms for non-prosecution and deferred prosecution agreements, reduced corporate fines, and limited use and terms of corporate monitors.[3] Galeotti specifically has directed the review of terms of all current agreements with companies to determine whether they should be terminated early. DOJ has already begun terminating agreements it determined have been fully met.

Streamlining Corporate Investigations

Finally, Galeotti emphasizes the need to minimize the unnecessary cost and disruption to U.S. businesses due to DOJ’s investigations and to “maximize efficiency.”

More Efficient Investigations

While acknowledging the complexity and frequent cross-border nature of the Division’s investigations, prosecutors are instructed to “take all reasonable steps to minimize the length and collateral impact of their investigation, and to ensure that bad actors are brought to justice swiftly and resources are marshaled efficiently.” The Assistant Attorney General’s office will, along with the relevant Section, track investigations to ensure they are “swiftly concluded.”

Limitation on Corporate Monitorships

DOJ will impose compliance monitorships only when it deems them necessary and has directed that those monitorships, when imposed, should be “narrowly tailored.” Building upon a previous administration’s memorandum,[4] DOJ issued a May 12 Memorandum on Selection of Monitors in Criminal Division Matters, which provides factors for considering whether a monitorship is appropriate and guidelines to ensure a monitorship is properly tailored to address the “risk of recurrence” and “reduce unnecessary costs.” In considering the appointment of a monitor, prosecutors are to consider the:

• Risk of recurrence of criminal conduct that significantly impacts U.S. interests;
• Availability and efficacy of other independent government oversight;
• Efficacy of the compliance program and culture of compliance at the time of the resolution; and
• Maturity of the company’s controls and its ability to independently test and update its compliance program

The chief of the relevant section, as well as the Assistant Attorney General, must approve all monitorships, and the memo lays out additional details regarding the monitor’s appointment and oversight as well as the monitor selection process.

收获

DOJ’s current hiring freeze and recent personnel reductions/reassignments should not be taken as a sign that white collar crime will be permitted to flourish under the current administration. Rather, Galeotti’s May 12 memo further solidifies the enforcement policies and priorities the DOJ has been previewing since day one of the Trump administration and provides more clarity on what to expect when engaging with the Criminal Division and where it will be focusing its now-more-limited resources. Companies should familiarize themselves with this memo and corresponding updates related to whistleblowers, corporate enforcement and self-disclosures, and monitorships to ensure companies are appropriately assessing their risk profile, addressing potential misconduct, and meeting government expectations.

If you have questions or concerns about any of the topics discussed in this article, please reach out to any of the authors or your Foley & Lardner attorney.

[1] See, e.g., Executive Order 14157, Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as Foreign Terrorist

Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (Jan. 20. 2025) (Cartels Executive Order);

Memorandum from the Attorney General, Total Elimination of Cartels and Transnational Criminal

Organizations (Feb. 5, 2025) (Cartels and TCOs AG Memorandum) Executive Order 14209, Pausing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement to Further American Economic and National Security (Feb. 10, 2025); Cartels and TCOs AG Memorandum.

2 See “DOJ Criminal Division Updates (Part 2): Department of Justice Updates its Corporate Criminal Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program”

[3] See “DOJ Criminal Division Updates (Part 3): New Reasons for Companies to Self-Disclose Criminal Conduct”

[4] March 7, 2008 Craig Morford Memorandum (addressing selection and responsibilities of a corporate monitor).