How Does the Federal Government Prosecute White Collar Crimes in 2025?

White collar crime poses significant threats to American citizens, investors, and the public treasury. These sophisticated offenses, which include fraud, money laundering, bribery, and corruption, cause billions of dollars in harm annually while undermining confidence in financial markets and government programs. In May 2025, the Department of Justice unveiled a comprehensive new framework for prosecuting corporate and white collar crime, establishing ten high-impact priority areas while emphasizing focus, fairness, and efficiency in enforcement. Understanding this evolving landscape helps businesses maintain compliance and individuals recognize the serious consequences of financial misconduct.

What Are the DOJ's New White Collar Enforcement Priorities?

The Criminal Division's May 2025 memorandum outlined ten areas where federal prosecutors will concentrate their limited resources to achieve maximum impact in protecting American interests.

Which Fraud Categories Receive Priority?

Healthcare fraud targeting Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health programs remains a top enforcement priority. The scale of healthcare spending makes this area particularly vulnerable to fraudulent schemes, and the Department has maintained consistent focus on this category for decades.

Federal program and procurement fraud, including schemes affecting defense spending and programs supporting citizens in need, also receives heightened attention. Prosecutors focus on waste, fraud, and abuse that harms the public fisc, recognizing that taxpayer funds must be protected from criminal diversion.

What About Investment and Market Fraud?

Investment fraud targeting American investors and consumers represents another priority area. This includes "ramp and dump" schemes, where manipulators artificially inflate stock prices before selling their positions, particularly schemes perpetrated using foreign corporate structures that complicate enforcement.

The Department specifically highlighted concerns about variable interest entities, typically Chinese-affiliated companies listed on American exchanges that carry significant risks for investors. These structures provide limited protections and may facilitate fraud in United States markets.

How Is Digital Asset Fraud Addressed?

Cryptocurrency and digital asset fraud has become an increasingly prominent enforcement focus. Fraudsters have exploited the complexity and relative novelty of digital assets to victimize investors and consumers. The Department prioritizes investigations of schemes that exploit the digital asset ecosystem.

What Changes Affect Corporate Criminal Enforcement?

The 2025 framework introduces significant modifications to how the Department approaches corporate misconduct.

Will All Corporate Misconduct Be Prosecuted?

The memorandum explicitly states that not all corporate misconduct warrants federal criminal prosecution. Prosecutors are instructed to consider whether civil and administrative remedies may adequately address the conduct, particularly for companies that cooperate with investigations and implement effective compliance programs.

This approach reflects concern that overbroad enforcement burdens legitimate American businesses and may discourage innovation and appropriate risk-taking. The Department seeks to balance effective enforcement against unnecessary interference with lawful commercial activity.

How Does Self-Disclosure Affect Corporate Treatment?

Companies that identify misconduct internally, self-report to the Department, cooperate with investigations, and remediate problems may receive significant leniency. The revised Corporate Enforcement Policy provides clearer pathways to declination of prosecution for companies that meet specified criteria.

This framework incentivizes corporate compliance programs and voluntary disclosure while preserving the Department's ability to pursue serious misconduct aggressively when circumstances warrant.

What Happened to Prosecution Rates?

Data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse reveals concerning trends in white collar prosecution rates during the first half of fiscal year 2025.

Are Fewer Cases Being Filed?

White collar crime prosecutions have declined substantially compared to historical norms. Prosecution rates for cases referred to federal prosecutors have fallen from historically typical rates of 30 to 50 percent to just 24 percent in the first half of fiscal year 2025.

This decline reflects shifting enforcement priorities, as federal prosecutors have been directed to devote significant resources to other areas including immigration enforcement. News coverage reports that white collar cases may be deprioritized for the remainder of 2025.

What Does This Mean for Ongoing Investigations?

The gap between new prosecutions and convictions creates a lag effect, where conviction statistics reflect enforcement priorities from prior administrations. Current conviction numbers remain relatively stable because cases typically take three years or more to progress from prosecution to sentencing disposition.

However, the reduced filing rates suggest that conviction numbers will decline in future years as the pipeline of pending cases diminishes. This creates uncertainty for businesses and individuals currently under investigation about likely outcomes.

What Are the Penalties for White Collar Crimes?

White collar crime convictions carry substantial penalties, though sentencing varies significantly based on the nature and scope of the offense.

What Prison Terms Are Typical?

Examining the period from fiscal year 1986 through 2024, the median prison sentence for all white collar crimes was 6 months while the average was 19 months. However, these figures mask significant variation based on offense type.

Insurance fraud carries the longest average prison terms at 84 months, followed by arson for profit at 56 months and other investment fraud at 47 months. Healthcare fraud, securities fraud, and complex money laundering schemes also result in substantial incarceration.

How Are Financial Penalties Determined?

Financial penalties in white collar cases often include restitution to victims, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, and fines. Corporate defendants may face penalties exceeding the direct financial benefit of their misconduct. Individual defendants may forfeit assets traceable to criminal conduct.

What Is the Corporate Whistleblower Program?

The Department has expanded its Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program to align with current enforcement priorities.

How Does the Program Work?

Individuals who provide tips leading to successful forfeitures in priority areas may qualify for financial awards. The program now covers tips related to money laundering, narcotics, immigration violations, terrorism, corporate sanctions offenses, trade or tariff fraud, and corporate procurement fraud.

This expansion encourages insiders with knowledge of corporate misconduct to come forward while providing financial incentives that help offset the personal and professional risks whistleblowers often face.

What Protections Do Whistleblowers Receive?

Federal law provides substantial protections against retaliation for whistleblowers who report potential violations. Employees who experience adverse employment actions after making protected disclosures may pursue legal remedies including reinstatement and damages.

How Are Corporate Monitors Being Used?

The new framework significantly restricts the use of compliance monitors in corporate resolutions.

When Are Monitors Appropriate?

The Department instructs prosecutors to impose monitors only when necessary and to ensure that when required, monitoring arrangements are narrowly tailored to address specific compliance risks. This represents a shift from prior periods when monitors were imposed more routinely.

Factors prosecutors must consider include the risk of recurrence of criminal conduct that significantly impacts United States interests, availability of other independent government oversight, efficacy of the company's existing compliance program, and maturity of the company's internal controls.

What Happens to Existing Monitoring Agreements?

The Department is reviewing all existing corporate integrity agreements to determine whether early termination is appropriate. Companies currently subject to monitoring may benefit from this reassessment if they have demonstrated effective compliance.

What International Dimensions Affect White Collar Enforcement?

White collar crime increasingly involves cross-border elements that complicate investigation and prosecution.

How Does Money Laundering Cross Borders?

Sophisticated money laundering operations, including Chinese Money Laundering Organizations, enable criminal actors to move illicit funds across borders while concealing their origins. These operations facilitate additional crimes including drug trafficking and sanctions evasion.

The Department prioritizes complex money laundering investigations, particularly those involving foreign adversary companies and transnational criminal organizations.

What About Foreign Bribery?

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prohibits American companies and individuals from bribing foreign government officials to obtain business advantages. The new enforcement framework indicates that FCPA prosecution will prioritize cases where foreign bribery harms American national interests and undermines the competitiveness of American businesses.

Navigating the Evolving White Collar Enforcement Landscape

The Department of Justice's 2025 framework establishes clear priorities for white collar enforcement while introducing mechanisms intended to provide greater certainty for businesses. Companies benefit from robust compliance programs, prompt internal investigation of potential misconduct, and consideration of voluntary disclosure when violations are discovered. Individual accountability remains the Department's primary focus, with prosecution of executives, officers, and employees who commit crimes continuing as the centerpiece of enforcement strategy. Understanding these enforcement priorities and compliance expectations helps businesses avoid costly investigations and potential criminal liability.