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Strategic Objective
Investigate and prosecute corruption, economic crimes, and transnational organized crime
Strategic Objective
Overview
The Nation’s recent economic crisis has had significant and devastating effects on mortgage markets, credit markets, and the banking system. The Department will protect Americans from the financial fraud and corruption that devastates consumers, siphons taxpayer dollars, weakens our markets, and impedes our ongoing economic recovery. The impact of financial crime is not confined to Wall Street – and many times the victims of fraud have worked hard and played by established investment rules, only to see their retirement and life savings vanish at the hands of white-collar criminals. Additionally, the rapid expansion of Internet use throughout the Nation, including business and government, creates a continually growing risk of unlawful acts. The Department will focus its white collar enforcement resources on these areas of potential fraud and associated corruption.
These offenses represent separate and very severe threats to the United States’ economy. The corruption of federal, state, and locally elected, appointed, or contracted officials, whether foreign or domestic, undermines democratic institutions and may threaten the condition of the economy, public safety, and national security, while wasting many taxpayer dollars. As businesses, governments, educational institutions, and individual citizens continue to integrate the Internet and other global network computer systems, extortionists, hostile insiders, identity thieves, and other criminals have new opportunities and new venues to commit unlawful acts. The increased presence of fraud such as corporate fraud, securities fraud, healthcare fraud, and mortgage fraud have escalated and will continue to hamper economic recovery and persist long after any recovery occurs. IP crime poses a grave threat to the country’s economic well-being, as well as the health and safety of U.S. citizens. Finally, transnational crime has expanded dramatically in size, scope, and influence, and transnational criminal networks pose a significant threat to national and international security. In response, the Department will implement actions to support the Administration’s Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime, which seeks to build, balance, and integrate the tools of American power to combat transnational organized crime and related threats to national security and urge America’s foreign partners to do the same.
The Department will pursue fraud and corruption committed against the Federal Government and state and local governments and their programs and will protect consumers through vigorous investigations and civil and criminal enforcement of federal laws. These efforts will return significant amounts to the Treasury, Medicare, and other entitlement programs every year and provide deterrence to those contemplating defrauding federal programs, businesses, and individual citizens.
Read Less...Progress Update
Strategic Objective Review Summary of Findings: On track and making satisfactory progress
The Department has adopted a comprehensive approach to combating white collar crime that is built upon the full spectrum of its criminal and civil authorities, tools, and capabilities. In FY 2015, the Department obtained successful resolution of public corruption, economic crime (including financial, healthcare, intellectual property, and high-tech fraud), and transnational organized crime cases. In February 2015, DOJ reached a settlement for $1.375 billion with Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC, along with its parent corporation McGraw Hill Financial Inc., for its part in in the 2008 economic crisis. DOJ’s investigation involved whether rating agencies inflated ratings that misrepresented the true credit risk of investments. Also in 2015, BNP Paribas S.A. (BNPP) was convicted of one count of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act by processing billions of dollars of transactions through the U.S. financial system on behalf of Sudanese, Iranian, and Cuban entities subject to U.S. sanctions. BNPP was sentenced to a five-year term of probation, and ordered to forfeit $8,833,600,000 and to pay a fine of $140,000,000.
In May 2015, DOJ announced the indictment of nine Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) officials and five corporate executives for racketeering conspiracy and corruption. An additional 16 FIFA officials were indicted in the latter part of 2015 for racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies, among other offenses, in connection with their participation in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer.
In June 2015, three employees of Riverside General Hospital were sentenced to 45 years, 20 years and 12 years in prison, respectively based on their scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting to Medicare approximately $158 million in false and fraudulent claims for partial hospitalization program services.
Challenges in this area include technology and the large amount of data that are created everyday resulting in cases that are taking longer to investigate, as investigators have a larger amount of data and electronic evidence that must be collected and reviewed. Also, the often amorphous nature of transnational organized crime groups and the wide range of criminal activity in which they engage could make it difficult to fully identify the presence and scope of such groups. The Department will continue to identify, investigate, and disrupt fraud, such as corporate fraud committed by both individuals and enterprises; disrupt and dismantle money laundering industries and confiscate criminal assets associate with said industries; and pursue public corruption at all levels of government.
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Strategic Goals
Strategic Goal:
Prevent Crime, Protect the Rights of the American People, and Enforce Federal Law
