Justice Department Creates National Fraud Enforcement Division to Fight Fraud Against Taxpayer Funds
On April 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division, a new litigating division dedicated to investigating and prosecuting those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars. In a memorandum signed that day, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche placed the Criminal Division's Tax Section, Health Care Fraud Unit, and Market, Government, and Consumer Fraud Unit under the new division's operational control, effective immediately.
The memorandum says more than a trillion dollars in taxpayer funds are at stake each year, threatened by increasingly sophisticated fraudsters, and that the Department had never adopted a comprehensive, coordinated approach to fraud against taxpayer-funded programs. The new division's core mission, in the memorandum's words, is to zealously investigate and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars, coordinating with the agencies that administer benefit programs.
Under the plan, the division will work with the Justice Management Division and other partners to establish a National Fraud Detection Center dedicated to identifying fraud across taxpayer-funded programs and generating leads for investigators and prosecutors. The Civil Division will designate a liaison so civil and criminal tools are used together, and the FBI will increase the agents, analysts, and forensic accountants assigned to fraud investigations against taxpayer programs.
The memorandum sets a series of deadlines: within 30 days the Office of Legal Policy must recommend which criminal prosecutorial resources should be realigned into the division; within 90 days it must recommend ways to strengthen fraud laws and penalties; and within 120 days it must advise whether non-criminal components should also be brought in. It also calls for grant programs that would let state and local prosecutors join the division's mission as special attorneys.
The new division is directed to coordinate with the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud created by executive order in March, and its creation has since been noted in nearly every fraud case the Department has announced.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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