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As this DLA Piper alert details, on May 12, the DOJ’s Criminal Division rolled out some key policy updates:

– A new White Collar Enforcement Plan
– A revised Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Disclosure Policy
– A revised Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program Policy
– New guidance on the selection of monitors

There’s a lot here, but here are a few high-level takeaways from the alert:

– DOJ Criminal Division will prioritize investigating and prosecuting corporate crime in ten “high-impact areas.”

1. Waste, fraud, and abuse, including healthcare fraud and federal program and procurement fraud

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 US 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 US financial system by gatekeepers, such as financial institutions and their insiders that commit sanctions violations or enable transactions by cartels, TCOs, hostile nation-states, and/or foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs)

6. Material support by corporations to FTOs, including recently designated cartels and TCOs

7. Complex money laundering

8. Violations of the Controlled Substances Act and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), including activities related to fentanyl production and unlawful distribution of opioids by medical professionals and companies

9. Bribery and associated money laundering that impact US national interests, undermine US national security, harm the competitiveness of US businesses, and enrich foreign corrupt officials; and

10. Digital asset-related crimes, including ones that (1) victimize investors and consumers; (2) use digital assets in furtherance of other criminal conduct; and (3) involve willful violations that facilitate significant criminal activity.

– The DOJ Criminal Division’s amended Corporate Enforcement Policy aims to provide more transparency and enhanced incentives to companies that self-disclose and cooperate.

– DOJ Criminal Division commits to streamlining corporate investigations.

The “Galeotti Memo” and the path to declination under the Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy (CEP) were frequently cited developments during yesterday’s Securities Enforcement Forum West. Here are a few comments from the “Masterclass I: Managing a True Corporate Crisis, Major Internal Investigation and/or Whistleblower” panel that I found interesting:

– Priority number nine above looks surprisingly like an FCPA issue given the announced enforcement pause on that front.

– The updated approach to self-reporting seems encouraging, especially the suggestion that the DOJ might still give some cooperation credit for corporate self-reporting even if the DOJ was already aware of potential wrongdoing from another source.

We’re posting resources in our “White Collar Crime” Practice Area.

– Meredith Ervine