U.S. Attorney General: Prosecuting Individuals Is Top Priority in Policing Corporate Crime

The U.S. Justice Department’s top priority in rooting out corporate malfeasance is to hold individuals accountable, Attorney General Merrick Garland said March 3 as he detailed a shift in focus and resources at the agency.

The agency is allocating resources toward “obtaining individual convictions rather than accepting big-dollar corporate” resolutions, Garland said at the American Bar Institute’s National Institute on White Collar Crime.

Garland’s remarks underscore change already under way under President Joe Biden as the agency hardens its stance against corporate malfeasance. The Justice Department has moved away from the previous administration’s focus on cooperation and its increased use of agreements to hold off prosecuting big corporations in exchange for eye-popping penalties.

Prosecuting individuals is “our first priority because corporations only act through individuals,” Garland said.

Criminal convictions pursued by the Justice Department’s fraud section – its unit tasked with policing economic crimes – surged last year, while the corporate deals and total penalties secured plunged, an agency report showed last month. Read full story

Garland also noted other changes laid out by his deputy in October. The Justice Department has taken aim at corporations that repeatedly break the law and has said it will take a broader view of misconduct it considers when negotiating an end to its investigations. Read full story

The administration under former President Donald Trump reined in efforts to prosecute individuals, emphasized cooperation with corporate actors and dialed back use of third-party monitors to ensure firms accused of misconduct are complying with U.S. laws.

“As a defense attorney, prosecutor, and judge, I have also seen the Justice Department’s interest in prosecuting corporate crime wax and wane over time,” Garland said. “Today, it is waxing again.”

(Reporting by Chris Prentice; Additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Mark Porter)

Topics USA Fraud