Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division released Directive 26-13 on October 8, 2026, outlining the division’s approach to investigating, disrupting and prosecuting fraud. It builds on earlier guidance on the division’s priorities and corporate enforcement policy.
The Justice Department calls it a significant operational shift. It requires prosecutors to attack fraud from all angles using the division’s tax, securities fraud, consumer fraud and cybercrime authorities, and to use early, pre-indictment asset seizures and digital-infrastructure takedowns to halt schemes and freeze assets in real time.
The directive also urges prosecutors to develop cooperators, vigorously prosecute corporate bad actors, seek arrest and detention in appropriate cases and advocate fully at sentencing. DOJ says the goal is to disrupt and dismantle fraudulent networks before they cause widespread harm.