DOJ Outlines Five Enforcement Priorities for New National Fraud Division
The DOJ outlined five enforcement priorities for its newly created National Fraud Enforcement Division, focusing on government procurement, healthcare, tax evasion, global trade, and corporate misconduct.
In a memorandum to Division personnel, Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald detailed the Division's mandate to combat an estimated $233 billion to $521 billion in annual federal government fraud losses identified by the GAO. Mr. McDonald said the Division will grow to approximately 500 attorneys and staff by August 24, 2026, and will continue to expand rapidly over the following two years. He added that the Division will deploy specialized litigating sections across the country.
The DOJ identified five core enforcement priorities for the Division:
- public trust and financial integrity: targeting government procurement fraud, including bid rigging, defective pricing, and product substitution, as well as schemes exploiting benefit and grant programs;
- healthcare: using data analytics to prosecute telemedicine fraud, Medicare and Medicaid schemes, controlled substance diversion, and deceptive marketing of unsafe products;
- internal revenue: deploying criminal tax tools and financial forensics to pursue unethical return preparers, abusive promoters, and individuals concealing income;
- global trade and commerce: leading the Department's criminal trade enforcement strategy and working through a cross-agency Trade Fraud Task Force to target illicit transshipment, country-of-origin fraud, sanctions evasion, and supply chains polluted by forced labor; and
- corporate misconduct: prioritizing antifraud corporate enforcement and rewarding organizations that voluntarily self-disclose, cooperate, and remediate.
Mr. McDonald stated that the Division, which President Trump announced earlier this year, will operate with a lean structure, reducing bureaucratic oversight to allow career prosecutors to focus on charging violations of the law.