The United States Department of Justice Fraud Division has issued sweeping new guidance that significantly expands its corporate enforcement framework, signalling a sharper focus on prosecuting fraud.
The October 1 memorandum builds on earlier guidance issued by Colin M. McDonald, Assistant Attorney General of the DOJ’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, which Bracewell first reported in August.
The new guidance layers a Fraud Division-specific list of priority fraud types onto the Justice Manual’s existing multi-factor framework for corporate enforcement decisions.
Prosecutors must now apply a weighted list of aggravating factors when assessing corporate misconduct, adding greater structure and consistency to enforcement decisions across the division.
The memorandum also creates a mandatory centralised reporting and review structure through a newly established Corporate Enforcement Section, a mechanism that did not previously exist in this form.
The guidance makes clear the division intends to pursue an “aggressive, all-tools approach to investigating and prosecuting its healthcare, government, tax, and trade fraud priorities.”
Among the factors prosecutors will weigh are the seriousness and pervasiveness of a company’s wrongdoing, its compliance policies, its internal controls, and its history of misconduct.
The division has outlined four core aims: holding criminal entities accountable, furthering individual prosecutions, promoting a culture of compliance and integrity, and protecting honest and good-faith markets.
Companies that voluntarily disclose misconduct, cooperate with investigators, and take steps to remediate wrongdoing will continue to receive credit under the framework, the memorandum confirms.
Fraud Division prosecutors have been directed to report any ongoing corporate investigations to the Chief of the Corporate Enforcement Section by October 8, 2026, underlining the urgency of the transition.
The Corporate Enforcement Section will provide oversight and guidance across the full lifecycle of corporate matters, spanning investigation through to litigation or final resolution.
The guidance was authored by Nicole Boeckmann, Alamdar Hamdani, Jeffery B. Vaden, and Anissa L. Adas of Bracewell LLP, reflecting the firm’s close tracking of DOJ enforcement developments throughout 2026.