A senior Justice Department official revealed the Biden administration has launched a crackdown on corporate malfeasance and that there will be “serious consequences.”
John Carlin, who served as acting deputy attorney general for a few months after President Joe Biden was sworn into office, said that the administration will be targeting “some of the largest corporations” in the United States.
Carlin, who is working on the crackdown, told the Financial Times that “you’ll see cases in the weeks to come.”
The DOJ will be looking into corporations that might have violated the terms of their deferred prosecution agreements, instances in which the government brings charges against a company but agrees not to pursue the charges if the company abides by a set of probationary conditions. The charges are dropped if the company follows through on its obligations.
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The DOJ official added that the government will also be going after businesses that have not invested in required compliance systems, which were implemented to avoid legal issues.
“Now is the time to get the house in order, focus on compliance, because there [are] going to be tough enforcement actions coming out of the department if you do not do so,” he warned.
Carlin emphasized that Attorney General Merrick Garland has made cracking down on legal violations by major corporations a priority.
“There are going to be serious consequences,” Carlin said. “You should expect in the days, months, years to come an unprecedented focus by this attorney general on corporate accountability.”
The remarks come just weeks after the DOJ announced that it would be toughening its policies in order to combat white-collar crime. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said that the department will not hesitate to prosecute corporate executives as part of the push.
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“Although we understand the costs that enforcement actions can place on shareholders and others, our responsibility is to incentivize responsible corporate citizenship, a culture of compliance, and a sense of accountability,” said Monaco last month.
“So, the department will not hesitate to take action when necessary to combat corporate wrongdoing,” she added.
