The National Fraud Enforcement Division confirmed its enforcement priorities for corporate fraud against American taxpayers and identified specific factors to be considered in charging decisions.
By the White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice
Key Points:
- Prosecutors are directed to prioritize four areas for corporate investigations: healthcare fraud, procurement and government-contract fraud, significant tax evasion, and tariff evasion or trade-related fraud.
- Prosecutors must give “great weight” to 10 specific factors when deciding whether to pursue charges or negotiate resolutions with corporations, including whether corporate management has knowledge or involvement in the fraud scheme.
- Prosecutors will coordinate closely with the NFED’s Corporate Enforcement Section in all corporate investigations and cases, and the Corporate Enforcement Section will have primary responsibility for ensuring corporate compliance with criminal resolutions.
- NFED leadership are directed to design policies and programs to incentivize whistleblowers of corporate fraud, including those who participated in the fraud.
On October 1, 2026, Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald, who leads the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) National Fraud Enforcement Division (NFED or the Division), issued a directive to all NFED personnel addressing “Corporate Enforcement in the Fight Against Fraud” (the Directive). The Directive states that NFED prosecutors will take “an aggressive, all-tools approach to investigating and prosecuting [the Division’s] health care, government, tax, and trade fraud priorities.”
The Directive describes several goals: (i) making the NFED’s corporate enforcement more efficient and fair, (ii) providing transparency to stakeholders, (iii) encouraging companies and whistleblowers to disclose misconduct, (iv) rewarding cooperation, (v) holding individual and corporate offenders accountable, and (vi) recovering fraud proceeds.
The Directive underscores DOJ’s continued focus on its fraud enforcement efforts and builds on the NFED’s recent growth. Since DOJ established the NFED in April 2026, the Division has assumed control of several DOJ Criminal Division components (including the Tax Section, the Health Care Fraud Unit, and parts of the Market, Government, and Consumer Fraud Unit), added more than 500 attorneys and staff, and announced the NFED’s enforcement priorities, including corporate misconduct as a key priority. This Directive provides more detailed information on how the NFED will focus its efforts on corporate fraud.
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