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DOJ orders U.S. attorney's offices to assign 1 prosecutor in each district to staff new fraud division, memo says

By
Sarah N. Lynch
Sarah N. Lynch
Senior Justice Department Reporter
Sarah N. Lynch is the senior Justice Department reporter for CBS News, based in Washington, D.C.
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Sarah N. Lynch

/ CBS News

The head of the Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division on Wednesday directed all U.S. attorneys' offices to assign a local prosecutor to serve "in place" in support of a Washington-based office created earlier this year, according to a memo obtained by CBS News.

In the memo, Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said detailing a prosecutor from each U.S. attorney's office aims to help "execute a nationwide strategy to eliminate fraud in every district" and "increase efficiency and efficacy by relying on local AUSAs to prosecute, support and consult on Fraud Division litigation in their district."

Beginning July 1, each prosecutor detailed to the new office should not be assigned any new work or cases without prior approval from the fraud division, the memo said.

The unusual staffing arrangement was announced one day after the Justice Department invited state and local governments to apply for $300 million in grants to hire local prosecutors on a temporary basis. They would serve in the fraud division as special assistant U.S. attorneys, focusing on public benefit fraud schemes involving people living in the country illegally.

The move also comes as staffing levels across the Department of Justice — including many U.S. attorney's offices — have been stretched thin by widespread departures and difficulties in hiring new attorneys. Many U.S. attorney's offices have also been contending with a flood of habeas petitions by immigrants who have been swept up in the Trump administration's mass detention policy.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has focused on pursuing fraud investigations involving government benefit programs in places such as Minnesota and California.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a news conference earlier this month that the new fraud division would primarily be staffed by combining various offices within the department that handle mostly criminal fraud involving health care, taxes, benefits and corporations.

Blanche also suggested the new division would be open to accepting criminal referrals from the White House — a departure from prior norms instituted after the Watergate scandal, which sought to insulate criminal investigations from political influence.

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