Matthew Galeotti, the head of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Criminal Division, has signaled that the agency will be scaling back its enforcement of white-collar financial crimes, and creating a new remediation and cooperation regime that will focus less on punishment and more on incentivizing actors to come forward. 

According to a report by Reuters, the new priorities coincide with a shift in focus towards the prevention of illegal immigration, which will now occupy one-third of the FBI’s time. According to Reuters’s anonymous sources, white-collar criminal enforcement “will be deprioritized” for at least the remainder of 2025. 

Enforcement focus shift

In a memo to the Criminal Division, Galeotti highlighted the significant impact of white-collar crime, which now drains billions from Americans annually. 

However, he further stated that the DOJ’s previously aggressive enforcement approach had negatively affected US interests and businesses. 

“Prosecutors must avoid overreach that punishes risk-taking and hinders innovation. For these reasons, the Division’s policies must strike an appropriate balance between the need to effectively identify, investigate, and prosecute corporate and individuals’ criminal wrongdoing while minimizing unnecessary burdens on American enterprise,” Galeotti wrote in the memo. 

He stated that the Criminal Division should consider several factors in a decision to charge corporations, “including whether the company reported the conduct to the Department, its willingness to cooperate with the government, and its actions to remediate the misconduct.” He also noted that low level-misconduct is best settled with civil and administrative remedies, as opposed to criminal resolutions.

Galeotti stated that going forward, the DOJ will have a redoubled focus on malicious foreign actors such as cartels, tariff evaders, terrorist organizations, international money launderers, and those who attempt bribery. He also noted that the agency will continue pursuing investment fraud, with a focus on elder fraud and digital asset fraud. 

The focus on elder fraud in investing has already been stated as a priority by the SEC’s then-acting chair Mark Uyeda. But the DOJ’s efforts to combat foreign bribery might be at odds with a February executive order halting enforcement of the Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Galeotti also stated that the DOJ will pursue waste, fraud, and abuse in healthcare and government procurement, a priority that is already evident in the DOJ’s recent settlements involving the False Claims Act (FCA) in the healthcare and cybersecurity sectors. 

New cooperation regime

In a speech to the attendees of a recent SIFMA conference, Galeotti highlighted the DOJ’s new cooperation and remediation regime. This initiative will bring major changes to the agency’s whistleblower, monitorship, and enforcement procedures, aiming to reduce uncertainty, promote reporting, and lower costs.

Under the revised Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy (CEP), entities will receive a full declination of prosecution if they adhere to certain standards including: 

• The company voluntarily self-disclosed the misconduct to the Criminal Division.
• The company fully cooperated with the Criminal Division’s investigation. 
• The company timely and appropriately remediated the misconduct.
• There are no “aggravating factors.” 

And the CEP now clarifies that companies untimely, but in good faith, disclosure of misconduct will receive “an NPA with a term of fewer than three years, 75% reduction of the criminal fine, and no monitor.” 

And companies that do not self-report will still be able to receive discretionary leniency including up to 50% fine reduction.

Corporate monitorship policies have also been revised. In his SIFMA speech, Galeotti criticized the DOJ’s existing corporate monitorship policies, which he described as over-broad and having placed unnecessary and expensive compliance burdens on firms. 

He said the DOJ would reduce the total number of monitors, and review pre-existing ones. Monitorships, when imposed, will be narrowly-tailored, Galeotti said. 

Last month, a judge approved the Justice Department’s request to end the monitorship of Glencore, which agreed in 2022 to pay over $1 billion to settle charges related to foreign bribery and market manipulation.

Galeotti also stated that the DOJ will be amending the Corporate Whistleblower Pilot program to include the following tip subject areas: 

• violations by corporations related to international cartels or transnational criminal organizations, including money laundering, narcotics, Controlled Substances Act, and other violations;
• violations by corporations of federal immigration law; 
• violations by corporations involving material support of terrorism;
• corporate sanctions offenses;
• trade, tariff, and customs fraud by corporations; and
• corporate procurement fraud.

Galeotti further stated that “companies need clear guidance and certainty on the concrete benefits that each company, their shareholders, boards, and customers can earn through self-reporting, owning up to criminal conduct, remediating and cooperating with the [DOJ].”

He also criticized “unchecked and long-running investigations” that created unnecessary cost and uncertainty. He stated that the current investigatory incentives forced entities under investigation to take an especially defensive position, thus creating cost drains for themselves and the DOJ.