DOJ’s Policy and Priority Changes Involving White-Collar Crime: What They Mean to You

Key Takeaways:

• • U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Criminal Division’s changes in policy and new policies are meant to “acknowledge law-abiding companies and companies that are willing to learn from their mistakes.”
  • “Focused, fair, and efficient” enforcement of white-collar crime is essential for “protecting American interests and taxpayers.”
  • The Criminal Division aims to foster cooperation with industries while effectively rooting out criminal activities.

On May 12, 2025, Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the DOJ Criminal Division, issued a memo[1] that outlined the DOJ Criminal Division’s  priorities,  new policies, and changes to current DOJ guidance that could have a significant impact on the DOJ’s fight against white-collar crime.  The memo indicates that white-collar crime will continue to be an enforcement priority of the DOJ as it “poses a significant threat to U.S. interests.”

In addition, the memo also cautions prosecutors to “avoid overreach that punishes risk-taking and hinders innovation.”  As a result, it appears that the DOJ wants to “strike an appropriate balance” between investigating and prosecuting wrongdoing and minimizing the burden on “American enterprise.”

I. DOJ’s Top 10 Enforcement Priorities[2]

1. 1. Waste, fraud, and abuse, including health care fraud and federal program and procurement fraud that harm the public fisc;
   2. Trade and customs fraud, including tariff evasion;
   3. Fraud perpetrated through variable interest entities (VIEs), including, but not limited to, offering fraud, “ramp and dumps,” elder fraud, securities fraud, and other market manipulation schemes;
   4. Fraud that victimizes U.S. investors, individuals, and markets including, but not limited to, Ponzi schemes, investment fraud, elder fraud, servicemember fraud, and fraud that threatens the health and safety of consumers;
   5. Conduct that threatens the country’s national security, including threats to the U.S. financial system by gatekeepers, such as financial institutions and their insiders that commit sanctions violations or enable transactions by Cartels, Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs), hostile nation-states, and/or foreign terrorist organizations;
   6. Material support by corporations to foreign terrorist organizations, including recently designated Cartels and TCOs;
   7. Complex money laundering, including Chinese Money Laundering Organizations, and other organizations involved in laundering funds used in the manufacturing of illegal drugs;
   8. Violations of the Controlled Substances Act and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), including the unlawful manufacture and distribution of chemicals and equipment used to create counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl and unlawful distribution of opioids by medical professionals and companies;
   9. Bribery and associated money laundering that impact U.S. national interests, undermine U.S. national security, harm the competitiveness of U.S. businesses, and enrich foreign corrupt officials; and
   10. As provided by the Digital Assets Deputy Attorney General Memorandum: crimes (1) involving digital assets that victimize investors and consumers; (2) that use digital assets in furtherance of other criminal conduct; and (3) willful violations that facilitate significant criminal activity. Cases impacting victims, involving cartels, TCOs, or terrorist groups, or facilitating drug money laundering or sanctions evasion shall receive highest priority.

II. What this means for you…

• • Continue to enhance and evolve compliance programs.  An effective compliance program is still a critical component that will be considered at the time of any resolution of potential violations.
  • Confirm an effective integration between your third-party risk and sanctions management programs.  It’s not enough to just know the third parties with which your company does business; conduct regular due diligence to understand the evolving nature of your company’s overall relationship with third parties.
  • Effectively educate and remind your employees of the evolving regulatory landscape and encourage raising concerns of potential violations of law or company policy or procedure through the company’s well-promoted compliance helpline.
  • Leverage prior and current knowledge gained from investigations conducted across the company in areas such as employment, interaction with government officials and sanctioned individuals, customs, and corporate procurement.

III. How we can help…

• • Leverage our experience – Utilize experienced professionals who have worked in-house at corporations as well as at consulting firms to implement cost-effective, feasible solutions.
  • Enhance your compliance and risk management programs – Refine and improve these programs using behavioral compliance concepts, better-connected data analytics and more holistic third- and fourth-party risk management programs.
  • AI Tools and Bias – Evaluate your AI tools for bias through defensible strategies leveraging data science and statistics.
  • Sanctions management – Assess exposure to specific sanction regimes at an enterprise-level to overcome any siloed approaches that may have developed over time and include areas such as master data management, Finance/Treasury, Compliance, Legal, and Customer Service.
  • Investigations and Due Diligence – Conduct investigations and build risk-based solutions to manage third parties through process automation, refine policies and procedures, and due diligence of acquisition targets, channel partners and third-party intermediaries.
  • Outsourcing/Staff Augmentation/Secondments – Provide interim or full-time support of the company’s execution of monitoring activities, internal and external investigations, proactive audits, and special projects.

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