Welcome to The BR Investigations and Enforcement Forum (“B.R.I.E.F.”), Blank Rome’s monthly newsletter highlighting enforcement priorities and compliance risk issues impacting businesses domestically and abroad. B.R.I.E.F. delivers concise insights into boardroom resilience, regulatory and sanctions developments, internal investigations, enforcement trends, and evolving financial crime risks. We invite you to share this resource with colleagues and visit our White Collar Defense & Investigations webpage to learn more about our team.
Recent Developments
Attorney General Establishes Anti-Weaponization Fund as Part of Settlement in Trump v. Internal Revenue Service
On May 18, 2026, the parties in Trump v. Internal Revenue Service, a Southern District of Florida case relating to a claimed tax returns leak, reached a settlement. As part of that settlement, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that the Attorney General established “The Anti-Weaponization Fund,” (the “Fund”) a $1.776 billion fund drawn from the judgment fund, intended “to provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.” The Fund will be administered by five members appointed by the Attorney General, with one member chosen in consultation with congressional leadership. The Fund will report quarterly to the Attorney General, is subject to audit, and must cease processing claims no later than December 1, 2028. Any remaining funds upon cessation will revert to the federal government.
While the Department of Justice has asserted authority to establish the Anti‑Weaponization Fund using the Judgment Fund without further congressional action, that authority is not settled.
DOJ Fraud Division Reports Weekly Enforcement Actions Exceeding $1 Billion
On May 15, 2026, the DOJ’s National Fraud Enforcement Division (the “Division”), established April 7, 2026, announced a series of fraud enforcement actions nationwide. In the headline case, a jury in the Southern District of Florida convicted the founder and owner of HealthSplash for operating a platform that generated false doctors’ orders and prescriptions to defraud Medicare and other federal healthcare programs, billing over $1 billion for unnecessary equipment.
Beyond the HealthSplash conviction, the Division’s enforcement actions spanned a wide range of fraud categories. In benefits program fraud, notable results included an $11 million pandemic unemployment scheme conviction in Illinois, guilty pleas for fraudulently obtained unemployment and Social Security benefits in Massachusetts, and a 63-month sentence for Paycheck Protection Program loan fraud in Florida. Additional actions included healthcare fraud charges against a Utah podiatrist and two nurses for $29 million in false Medicare claims, the arraignment of a Danish researcher on wire fraud and money laundering charges, and guilty pleas in two significant tax fraud cases, one involving over $60 million in concealed offshore income and another involving unreported cryptocurrency earnings. The Division continues to serve as a central pillar of DOJ’s broader effort to combat fraud against the American people.
DOJ Fraud Division Launches West Coast Health Care Fraud Strike Force
On April 30, 2026, DOJ’s National Fraud Enforcement Division (the “Division”) announced the formation of the West Coast Health Care Fraud Strike Force, a multi-district enforcement initiative uniting the Division’s Health Care Fraud Section with the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the District of Arizona, District of Nevada, and the Northern District of California. According to DOJ, the Strike Force model has been responsible nationally for the prosecution of over 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal healthcare programs and private insurers more than $45 billion. The new initiative was described as data-driven and responds to what DOJ characterized as a significant and accelerating increase in healthcare fraud across all three districts.
DOJ Civil Division Launches FOCUS Initiative for Data Miners Filing Qui Tam Complaints
On April 30, 2026, the DOJ’s Civil Division announced the Fraud Oversight through Careful Use of Statistics (“FOCUS”) initiative, a program intended to “strengthen [the Department’s] working relationship with whistleblowers” who file qui tam complaints under the False Claims Act. The initiative responds to a rapid increase in qui tam complaints driven by companies or individuals, known as data miners, who analyze publicly available government data for potential signals of fraud. Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate stated that sophisticated data analytics “have become an increasingly important means of identifying fraud trends” across federal programs, and the FOCUS initiative is intended to facilitate engagement with data miners whose methodologies meet the Civil Division’s standards.
Through FOCUS, data miners will have the opportunity to meet with the Civil Fraud Section to discuss their capabilities and explain how their data signals reliably correlate to fraud. While such meetings are not a pre-filing requirement, DOJ has indicated it will prioritize working with data miners who demonstrate “pre-filing diligence, analytical rigor, familiarity with program rules, and legally sufficient allegations.”
SEC Rescinds Policy Regarding Denials of Settlements in Enforcement Actions
On May 18, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced it was rescinding its policy to not settle an enforcement action in which a sanction is imposed unless the defendant or respondent agrees not to publicly deny the allegations in the complaint or administrative order, codified at Rule 202.5(e) of the SEC’s informal rules of procedures. The rescission of this rule aligns the SEC with the majority of other federal agencies, which do not have a similar rule. The agency will have more flexibility in its settlement of enforcement actions, which will conserve resources and potentially expedite the return of money to injured investors.
Due to the rescinding of this rule, the SEC will not enforce existing no-deny provisions, and in the event of a breach of an existing no-deny provision, the SEC will take no action in asking a court to vacate a settlement or reopen an adjudicatory proceeding. The rescission is effective May 21, 2026, and applies to both pending and future enforcement matters.
CFTC Staff Issues Advisory on Cooperation and Self-Reporting in Enforcement Matters
On May 19, 2026, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) announced that its Division of Enforcement issued a staff advisory setting forth a new policy on cooperation and self-reporting. This advisory supersedes all prior guidance on the subject and establishes a streamlined framework for evaluating cooperation credit.
Under the policy, the Division of Enforcement will not recommend that the CFTC bring an enforcement action where there are no aggravating circumstances—such as intentional or reckless misconduct by senior management or egregious harm—and the respondent voluntarily self-reports, fully cooperates, timely and appropriately remediates the misconduct, and provides full restitution and/or disgorgement. Even where declination is not available, entities may still receive substantial cooperation credit if they satisfy these criteria. The policy reflects a structured approach to incentivizing prompt self-reporting and aligns the CFTC more closely with other enforcement authorities that condition declination outcomes on early disclosure, cooperation, and remediation.
OFAC Announces $275 Million Settlement with Adani Enterprises for Iran Sanctions Violations; DOJ Moves to Dismiss Related Criminal Charges
On May 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced a $275 million settlement with Adani Enterprises Limited (“AEL”), an India-based company, to resolve potential civil liability for 32 apparent violations of OFAC’s Iran sanctions program. According to OFAC, from November 2023 to June 2025, AEL purchased shipments of liquefied petroleum gas (“LPG”) from a Dubai-based trader purporting to supply Omani and Iraqi gas, despite red flags that the LPG actually originated from Iran. During this period, AEL caused U.S. financial institutions to process 32 U.S. dollar-denominated payments totaling approximately $192 million for the shipments. OFAC determined that the violations were egregious and not voluntarily self-disclosed, though it credited AEL’s remedial measures and cooperation following discovery of the conduct.
Separately, also on May 18, 2026, DOJ filed a motion to dismiss with prejudice the criminal fraud and bribery charges against Gautam Adani and other company executives that had been brought in the Eastern District of New York in November 2024. Prosecutors stated that DOJ “has reviewed this case and has decided, in its prosecutorial discretion, not to devote further resources to these criminal charges.” The SEC also moved for entry of final judgments by consent in a related civil action, under which the individual defendants would neither admit nor deny the SEC’s allegations. Taken together, the coordinated OFAC settlement and DOJ/SEC resolutions effectively conclude all pending U.S. enforcement proceedings against the AEL.
Former U.S. Congressman and Lobbyist Convicted of FARA Violations in Connection with Venezuela
On May 1, 2026, a federal jury in the Southern District of Florida convicted former U.S. Representative David Rivera and lobbyist Esther Nuhfer of acting as unregistered agents of Venezuela in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”). According to trial evidence, Rivera and Nuhfer obtained a $50 million contract with a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (“PDVSA”), and—without registering as required by law—lobbied U.S. officials and arranged meetings between U.S. policymakers and high-ranking Venezuelan officials, including then-President Nicolás Maduro. Rivera used approximately $600,000 in contract proceeds to fund his Florida state congressional campaign.
The jury found Rivera guilty of conspiracy to violate FARA, a substantive FARA violation, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and four counts of engaging in transactions in criminally derived property. Nuhfer was convicted on similar charges. Rivera faces a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison. The case represents one of the rare instances in which FARA charges have proceeded to a jury trial and resulted in a conviction, underscoring DOJ’s continued focus on undisclosed foreign influence operations targeting U.S. government officials.
U.S. Sentencing Commission Submits Inflation-Adjusted Loss Tables for White Collar Offenses to Congress
On April 16, 2026, the U.S. Sentencing Commission unanimously voted to adopt amendments adjusting the monetary tables used to calculate sentences for fraud, tax evasion, and other economic crimes to account for inflation—the first such update in more than a decade. The amendments were submitted to Congress on May 1, 2026, and, absent congressional action, will take effect on November 1, 2026. Under the revised fraud loss table in §2B1.1, thresholds triggering offense-level enhancements increase across the board: for example, the threshold for a 14-level increase rises from $550,000 to $750,000, and the threshold for a 20-level increase rises from $9,500,000 to $15,000,000. The tax loss table in §2T4.1 has been similarly adjusted.
As a practical matter, the higher thresholds mean that many defendants charged with financial crimes will face lower advisory guideline ranges than under the current tables. Because courts generally apply the guidelines in effect at sentencing, sentencings occurring after November 1, 2026, will be informed by the revised tables. Defense counsel may seek to adjourn sentencings scheduled before that date or ask courts to consider the forthcoming amendments when requesting a variance. The amendments represent a significant development for sentencing advocacy in white collar cases.
Northern District of Texas Dismisses Wire Fraud Counts on Due Process Grounds in Tax Shelter Case
On May 6, 2026, U.S. District Judge Karen Gren Scholer of the Northern District of Texas dismissed 13 wire fraud counts against four defendants accused of operating a $1 billion tax shelter scheme. The Court held that the wire fraud charges violated the defendants’ due process rights because the government was using the wire fraud statute (which requires an “intent to defraud”) to prosecute conduct that should have been charged exclusively under criminal tax statutes (which impose a heightened “willfulness” standard). The Court reasoned that criminal tax offenses receive “special treatment” due to the complexity of the tax laws, and the government cannot relieve itself of the higher intent burden by securing the alternative option of a conviction under the lesser wire fraud standard.
The ruling is a matter of first impression in the Fifth Circuit and could have significant implications for federal white collar prosecutions beyond the tax context. The decision suggests that where Congress has established a specific criminal enforcement regime with a heightened mens rea requirement, prosecutors may face limits on their ability to use broader statutes such as wire fraud to pursue the same conduct under a lesser intent standard. The government is expected to appeal. Practitioners should monitor the case for its potential impact on charging decisions in cases involving regulated conduct subject to specialized criminal statutes.
Supreme Court to Review Sentencing Guidelines Commentary Dispute
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that will likely settle a circuit split regarding how much deference should be given to U.S. Sentencing Commission commentary interpreting federal sentencing guidelines.
In 1993, the Court determined that Sentencing Commission commentary is binding unless it is unconstitutional, against federal law, or inconsistent with the guidelines. Stinson v. United States, 508 U.S. 36 (1993). The circuit courts are split on whether a 2019 case, Kisor v. Wilkie, 588 U.S. 558 (2019) overruled Stinson. Kisor limited the level of deference trial courts could give to agency interpretations of their own regulations, but court of appeals decisions are inconsistent on whether Kisor explicitly overrules Stinson.
The petitioner argues that review is necessary because with the current confusion on agency deference, defendants receive inconsistent sentences from district court judges. The government argues that review is unwarranted because the Sentencing Commission can resolve disputes by amending the guidelines.
D.C. Circuit Says SEC Whistleblower Denial Doesn’t Pass Muster
The D.C. Circuit ordered the SEC to reconsider its denial of a whistleblower award to an anonymous individual whose information led to a successful enforcement action. In an opinion unsealed on May 5, 2026, the Court held that the SEC abused its discretion by failing to adequately explain why it declined to grant the John Doe an exemption from the Dodd-Frank Act’s requirement that whistleblowers voluntarily submit information to the agency. The Court acknowledged that Doe did not meet the voluntariness requirement because the SEC and Congress contacted him only after he went to the media, rather than Doe independently providing the information to the agency. However, the panel found that Doe presented a “wealth of credible information” supporting a public interest in granting him an exemption.
The Court rejected Doe’s First Amendment arguments, clarifying that the SEC denied his claim because he failed to voluntarily inform the Commission, not because he spoke to the press. Nevertheless, the panel concluded that the SEC could not simply restate general policy goals when denying an exemption request tied to a significant enforcement action, particularly where the applicant pointed to past instances in which the Commission granted similar exemptions. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, whistleblower awards range between 10 percent and 30 percent of sanctions exceeding $1 million, meaning the potential award at stake could be worth millions of dollars. The case has been remanded to the SEC for reconsideration and an adequate explanation of its determination.
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Mapping Philly U.S. Atty’s White Collar Enforcement Push
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© 2026 Blank Rome LLP. All rights reserved. Please contact Blank Rome for permission to reprint. Notice: The purpose of this update is to identify select developments that may be of interest to readers. The information contained herein is abridged and summarized from various sources, the accuracy and completeness of which cannot be assured. This update should not be construed as legal advice or opinion, and is not a substitute for the advice of counsel.