Focus, Fairness, And Efficiency: A Closer Look At The DOJ’s “White Collar Enforcement Plan”
Earlier this week, the Department of Justice Criminal Division released various policy materials relevant to corporate enforcement.
Included in the materials was this memo to Criminal Division Personnel with a subject line “Focus, Fairness, and Efficiency in the Fight Against White-Collar Crime.”
The memo touches upon many issues long the focus of prior DOJ policy memos such as individual accountability, incentivizing voluntary disclosure and cooperation, the goal of efficient investigations, and the use of monitors.
The memo begins:
DOJ Quotable
A collection of quotes from high-ranking DOJ officials.
“[O]ur mission [is to] enforce the criminal laws that govern corporations, executives, officers and others, in order to protect jobs, guard savings and maintain our collective faith in the economic engine that fuels this country. We will hold those that break the law accountable and promote respect for the laws designed to protect investors, consumers and employees.”
“The department cannot measure its success merely in terms of prosecutions, trials, and convictions. Success includes crime prevention. A more compliant, ethical corporate world is a safer world – one that advances America’s interests writ large.”
“[T]he prosecution of corporate crime is a Justice Department priority. Nor does anyone need to tell this audience why that is so. Fraud, theft, corruption, bribery, environmental crime, market manipulation, and anticompetitive agreements threaten the free and fair markets upon which our economy is based. They decimate the assets of individuals, organizations, and governments alike. And they increase costs for every American.”
DOJ Criminal Division Announces “White-Collar Enforcement Plan”
For at least the past 20 years, the Department of Justice under all administrations has articulated various policies relevant to “white collar crime.”
The policies have all generally encouraged voluntary disclosure and cooperation with a pledge to treat business organizations that do those things less harshly than if the DOJ finds out about potential criminal activity through other ways.
The most recent example occurred yesterday in the form of this speech by Matthew Galeotti (Head of the DOJ Criminal Division) at a financial crime conference.
Galeotti began:
Further Thoughts On The Bondi Memo
This prior post highlighted a recent memo issued by new Attorney General Pam Bondi titled “Total Elimination of Cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations.”
The memo contained a section titled “Removing Bureaucratic Impediments to Aggressive Prosecutions” which addresses five areas of law to be “implemented for a period of 90 days and renewed or made permanent thereafter as deemed appropriate by the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Deputy Attorney General.”
Regarding the FCPA, the memo stated:
The Bondi Memo
Yesterday, new Attorney General Pam Bondi issued this memo titled “Total Elimination of Cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations.”
The memo begins as follows.
“On January 20, 2025, President Trump directed the federal government to revise existing national security and counter-narcotics strategies to pursue total elimination of Cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). This policy requires a fundamental change in mindset and approach. We must do more than try to mitigate the enormous harms these groups cause in America. It is not enough to stem the tide of deadly poisons, such as fentanyl, that these groups distribute in our homeland. Rather, we must harness the resources of the Department of Justice and empower federal prosecutors throughout the country to work urgently with the Department of Homeland Security and other parts of the government toward the goal of eliminating these threats to U.S. sovereignty.”