A New Era For Fraud Prosecutions At DOJ

Three months after the Trump administration announced a new National Fraud Enforcement Division, Acting Attorney General (AG) Todd Blanche issued a memorandum that gives the division its first real operational shape — and answers at least some of the questions we raised in January. The April 7, 2026 memo places three major U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) components under the new division’s interim operational control, sets deadlines for staffing and structural review, and leaves open whether the division ultimately will absorb civil enforcement functions. In a press conference held the same day and joined by recently confirmed Assistant AG Colin McDonald, Blanche indicated that the National Fraud Enforcement Division will bring together specialists in “healthcare fraud, tax fraud, benefits fraud, and corporate fraud” and a dedicated prosecutor from each U.S. Attorney’s Office. Blanche additionally announced a new “National Fraud Detection Center” in connection with this new division, which will feature a “multiagency data analytics team” to combat bad actors defrauding federal government programs. The goal of the new division, Blanche said, was to ensure “a comprehensive and coordinated approach to investigating and prosecuting fraud against taxpayer dollars and taxpayer funded programs.”

Staffing the New Division

Acting AG Blanche’s memo states that three of DOJ’s Criminal Division components — the Tax Section; Health Care Fraud Unit; and Market, Government, and Consumer Fraud Section — will all be moved to the new Fraud Division under Assistant AG McDonald’s supervision, “effective immediately.” In all likelihood, this means that the DOJ’s new Trade Fraud Task Force, currently supported by prosecutors in the Market, Government, and Consumer Fraud Section, will become part of the new division as well. These changes mark a departure from earlier statements from DOJ. As we noted in January, Criminal Division Assistant AG Tysen Duva told his staff in a memo that “it has been decided that the fraud section will remain entirely intact under the current Criminal Division structure.”

AG Blanche’s memo suggests that further changes may be afoot. The memo gives DOJ’s Office of Legal Policy a 30-day deadline to provide recommendations for other resources that should be “realigned into” the new division. In addition, each U.S. Attorney’s Office must designate a prosecutor to be “detailed in place” to the new division within 21 days. For now, the Civil Division’s Frauds Unit, which handles False Claims Act enforcement, will not be moved, but the Civil Division is charged with identifying a “liaison” to the new division. Yet even that arrangement may change, as the Office of Legal Policy has 120 days to identify any other “non-criminal elements” of the DOJ which should also be folded into the new division.

With respect to new hiring, the memo directs the National Fraud Enforcement Division and the Justice Management Division to develop and implement a hiring plan to rapidly expand prosecutorial resources nationwide. It also directs DOJ’s grant-making components, together with the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, to establish a grant program for bringing state and local prosecutors into the mission as Special Attorneys or Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys.

A New Era for Fraud Enforcement at DOJ?

Though the first year of the second Trump administration had already brought significant structural changes to DOJ, a whole new division led by a new Senate-confirmed Assistant AG is surely among the most significant of them. To some extent, the move appears to depart from the Trump administration’s prior approach of decentralizing enforcement and emphasizing the work of the U.S. Attorney’s Offices. Now, one of the DOJ’s most important priorities — protecting Americans and the public fisc from fraud — will be led by a large, centralized cadre of prosecutors and agents at DOJ headquarters.

Whatever organizational form the division ultimately takes, Acting AG Blanche’s remarks and the memo’s structure send a clear message: healthcare fraud, benefits fraud, tax fraud, and corporate fraud remain top enforcement priorities, and DOJ is reorganizing to pursue them more aggressively, not less.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.