MEMORANDUM FOR ALL UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS
ALL ASSISTANT UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS
ALL LITIGATING DIVISIONS
ALL TRIAL ATTORNEYS
FROM: THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
SUBJECT: Coordination of Parallel Criminal, Civil,
and Administrative Proceedings
The key to the Department's federal white-collar crime enforcement
effort is to use the Government's resources as efficiently and
effectively as possible in order to punish offenders, recover
damages, and prevent future misconduct. In recent years, we have
pursued greater numbers of complex cases, in which the Government
has been required to employ the full range of criminal, civil
and administrative remedies and sanctions. The challenge requires
greater cooperation, communication and teamwork between the criminal
and civil prosecutors who are often conducting parallel investigations
of the same offenders and matters. Although policies and procedures
on parallel proceedings have been adopted by many of the United
States Attorneys' offices, and Department components, I am issuing
the following policy statement to clarify the Department's priorities
and responsibilities in this new litigative environment.
We have experienced significant change in the way the Government
fights white-collar crime. We have also experienced enormous growth
of affirmative civil enforcement (ACE), and with additional ACE
resources, annual recoveries have increased by hundreds of millions
of dollars. Enforcement priorities encompass not only government
procurement and health care fraud, but also consumer protection,
the environment, tax, and securities fraud, which implicate a
variety of civil, criminal, and regulatory remedies.
In order to maximize the efficient use of resources, it is
essential that our attorneys consider whether there are
investigative steps common to civil and criminal prosecutions,
and to agency administrative actions, and that they discuss all
significant issues that might have a bearing on the matter as
a whole with their colleagues. When appropriate, criminal, civil,
and administrative attorneys should coordinate an investigative
strategy that includes prompt decisions on the merits of criminal
and civil matters; sensitivity to grand jury secrecy, tax disclosure
limitations and civil statutes of limitation; early computation
and recovery of the full measure of the Government's losses; prevention
of the dissipation of assets; global settlements; proper use of
discovery; and compliance with the Double Jeopardy Clause. By
bringing additional expertise to our efforts, expanding our arsenal
of remedies, increasing program integrity and deterring future
violations, we represent the full range of the Government's interests.
Accordingly, every United States Attorney's office and each
Department Litigating Division should have a system for coordinating
the criminal, civil and administrative aspects of all white-collar
crime matters within the office. The system should contain management
procedures to address issues of parallel proceedings including:
timely assessment of the civil and administrative potential
in all criminal case referrals, indictments, and declinations;
timely assessment of the criminal potential in all civil
case referrals and complaints;
effective and timely communication with cognizant agency
officials, including suspension and debarment authorities, to
enable agencies to pursue available remedies;
early and regular communication between civil and criminal
attorneys regarding qui tam and other civil referrals,
especially when the civil case is developing ahead of the criminal
prosecution; and
coordination, when appropriate, with state and local authorities.
Consistent with our responsibility to make our enforcement
efforts more efficient and effective, prosecutors should consult
with the government attorneys on the civil side and appropriate
agency officials regarding the investigative strategies to be
used in their cases. With proper safeguards, evidence can be obtained
without the grand jury by administrative subpoenas, search warrants
and other means. Evidence can then be shared among the various
personnel responsible for the matter. This information-sharing
can provide a mechanism through which the Government can achieve
a comprehensive settlement of all of the Government's various
interests.
I welcome the participation of the various law enforcement
agencies in this effort. I encourage those agencies and offices
with investigatory responsibilities to recognize, through workplans
and credit in the review process, accomplishments in the civil
and administrative areas that arise from the work of their agents.
I also encourage the United States Attorneys, Litigating Divisions
and administrative agencies to similarly recognize those contributions.
To help offices in overcoming impediments to coordination
that may arise from a lack of resources, experience or expertise,
I also direct that appropriate staff in each office receive comprehensive
training regarding parallel proceedings utilizing a course of
instruction and training materials to be developed by the Council
on White-Collar Crime and the Office of Legal Education.
Updated page October 30
, 1997 usdoj-jmd/irm/css/mlb