On May 12, 2025, DOJ Criminal Division Head Matthew R. Galeotti issued a "multi-faceted" white collar enforcement plan (Memorandum) in which he noted that unchecked and overbroad white-collar enforcement burdens U.S. corporate interests. Galeotti cautioned that prosecutors must avoid overreach that "punishes risk-taking and hinders innovation," and called for an appropriate balance between prosecuting criminal wrongdoing and minimizing burdens on American enterprise. The Memorandum identified 10 high-impact areas for the Criminal Division's focus.1 In its [...]

Last week, the Head of the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Criminal Division, Matthew R. Galeotti, instructed DOJ personnel to continue the first Trump administration's anti-"piling on" policy. Galeotti's memorandum, titled "Guidance on Coordinating Corporate Resolution Penalties in Parallel Criminal, Civil, Regulatory, and Administrative Proceedings," in large part echoes the policy on corporate enforcement coordination that was established in 2018, but with a significant caveat. Corporations often are subject to parallel enforcement by multiple federal agencies, [...]

On May 9, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order entitled "Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations" (the Order), which directs federal agencies to reassess how and when criminal penalties are applied to regulatory violations. The Order opens with the premise that "[c]riminal enforcement of regulatory offenses is disfavored." While the Order broadly targets strict liability offenses—those that do not require proof of intent—it also calls for heightened scrutiny of criminal enforcement where the regulated [...]