DOJ Shifts White-Collar Crime Enforcement Strategies

Areas of Heightened Focus

In its announcement, the DOJ unveiled its new white collar enforcement plan, which prioritizes the investigation and prosecution of crimes that pose direct risks to public safety, national security, and economic stability. Consistent with its “America First” approach that seeks to root out waste, fraud, and abuse that harms the public funds the DOJ identified categories for what it considers to be “high-impact areas” that will remain or become DOJ priorities. Specifically, the 10 “high-impact areas” enumerated are:

• Waste, fraud, and abuse, including health care, federal program, and procurement fraud that harms the public funds;
• Trade and customs fraud, including tariff evasion;
• Market manipulation or other fraud, especially if perpetrated by or through Chinese-affiliated companies listed on U.S. exchanges;
• Investment fraud;
• Sanctions violations;
• Money laundering offenses;
• Material support by corporations to foreign terrorist organizations;
• Unlawful manufacturing or distribution of narcotics and opioids;
• Bribery that impacts U.S. national interests, undermines U.S. national security, harms the competitiveness of U.S. businesses, or enriches foreign corrupt officials; and
• Crimes involving digital assets, including investor or consumer fraud and the use of digital assets in furtherance of criminal activity.

While these include some traditional DOJ focuses, such as health care and government procurement fraud, money laundering, and market manipulation, it now also contains areas aligned with the policy agenda of the current administration, such as trade and customs fraud, tariff evasion, and fraud committed by or for the purposes of funding foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal cartels.

In particular, the DOJ now emphasizes the growing threat of Chinese money laundering organizations and the use of laundered funds in the manufacturing and distribution of illegal drugs, such as fentanyl. Prosecutors are instructed to prioritize schemes involving senior-level personnel or other culpable actors, demonstrable loss, and efforts to obstruct justice, and to seize assets that are proceeds of high-impact offenses.