New Department of Justice policy directives outline shift in enforcement priorities

Refocused Priorities and Key Policy Changes

Effective immediately, the DOJ will prioritize criminal actions and dedicate additional resources to the following areas:

• Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs), Gangs, and Cartels: The DOJ will devote its resources to pursue the total elimination of Cartels and TCOs. A re-constituted Joint Task Force and other resources will focus on these threats.
• Human Trafficking and Smuggling and Protecting Law Enforcement Personnel: The memoranda emphasized the importance of combatting human trafficking and human smuggling into the United States and ensuring protection to federal law enforcement throughout the US
• Immigration Enforcement: The DOJ intends to use existing authorities to combat illegal immigration and support the Department of Homeland Security’s initiatives regarding immigration and removal. Prosecutors have been directed to investigate incidents in which state and local actors resist or fail to comply with lawful immigration-related requests. All decisions not to pursue immigration-related offenses must now be reported internally within the Department.
• Legislative Changes: The Drug Enforcement Administration has been directed to evaluate and, to the extent appropriate, advocate for legislative reforms to enhance counter-narcotics efforts, specifically those related to fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances. 

DOJ Resource Shifts

In an effort to reallocate resources and priorities, the DOJ will make the following resource shifts in its headquarters in Washington: 

• The National Security Division’s Corporate Enforcement Unit and the Foreign Influence Task Force will both be disbanded.
• Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) claims will involve civil, rather than criminal, enforcement unless implicating traditional forms of espionage.
• The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Unit of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section will prioritize investigations related to foreign bribery that facilitates the operations of Cartels and TCOs.
• The Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section of the Criminal Division will prioritize investigations, prosecutions, and asset forfeiture actions that target activities of Cartels and TCOs.
• Task Force KleptoCapture, established after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, will be disbanded. This effort was designed to enforce sanctions, export controls, and other measures the US imposed in response to the invasion, and target, among other things, the finances of Russian oligarchs.
• The Kleptocracy Team and the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, earlier and more general anti-corruption initiatives, also have been disbanded.

Removal of “Bureaucratic Impediments” 

The memoranda change how DOJ decisions will be made in cases involving Terrorism, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Racketeering, Capital Crime, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases involving cartels and TCOs. In the past, line prosecutors and their supervisors in the various US Attorneys’ Offices (USAOs) around the country were required to get approval from the DOJ’s headquarters in Washington before taking important steps in these types of cases, such as making charging decisions, seeking search warrants, and applying for witness warrants. Going forward, USAOs will only be required to consult and provide notice to respective departments at DOJ headquarters before many key decision-points, rather than to obtain approval. The memoranda indicate that the DOJ expects this change to remove “bureaucratic impediments to aggressive prosecutions.” 
 
Key Takeaways From the New Memoranda

The memoranda are notable for what they do not say. For instance, they do not specify that enforcement of bribery cases against companies and individuals will cease – only that those with a connection to cartels and terrorism will be prioritized. Clearly, there is a decrease in emphasis in these priorities on cases involving “bribes for business,” but the shift in priorities should not alter the robustness with which companies seek to address bribery compliance risks. In particular, we anticipate that prosecution of foreign companies for bribery with these alleged connections will continue, as this is entirely commensurate with the Trump Administration’s “America First” philosophy. 

The memoranda also do not specify that financial fraud, sanctions, export controls, and anti-money laundering violations will not be prosecuted, but that there is a shift in priority to those investigations involving the three core enforcement priorities. Companies should not take this change in emphasis as a signal that their compliance and investigations efforts can be relaxed. On the contrary, where degraded connections to certain transnational criminal organizations may have been overlooked in part due to attenuation, it appears as if such attenuation may no longer be mitigating in the eyes of the DOJ. 

With this in mind, three key takeaways that emerge from the memoranda are as follows:

1. Heightened Scrutiny of Any Misconduct Impacting Core Enforcement Priorities. Companies should continue to strengthen their compliance programs to address all relevant areas of the law. The DOJ’s focus on any area impacting the core enforcement priorities is expected to remain strong, and robust compliance measures and comprehensive due diligence efforts are crucial to mitigate enforcement risks.
2. Shift of Decision-Making Power to USAOs. The new policies indicate a shift of decision-making power from DOJ headquarters in Washington to USAOs around the country, empowering line prosecutors to take more aggressive actions against cartels and TCOs with fewer layers of required approval.
3. Resource Reallocation. The DOJ is reallocating resources to prioritize the elimination of cartels and TCOs, which may impact other areas of enforcement. Companies should stay informed about these changes and adjust their compliance strategies accordingly.