What happens to corporate crime cases with the FBI in flux?
WASHINGTON >> There’s the federal criminal investigation into Wells Fargo’s opening of unauthorized client accounts.
And the probe of Fox News’s business practices.
And the investigation of Baxter International, Pfizer and ICU Medical over their medical pricing and dealings with competitors.
For investors and others with an interest in such companies, President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey has added a new layer of uncertainty to the government’s corporate criminal investigations. What might an FBI without a permanent leader, even for a short time, mean for ongoing cases of corporate misconduct?
Comey’s dismissal comes just as questions have already been raised about whether corporate crime will be a priority for the Justice Department in the Trump administration.
The FBI partners with the network of federal prosecutors around the country who report to the Justice Department leadership in Washington. Agents collect evidence and interview witnesses, laying the groundwork that the U.S. attorneys use to prosecute cases. With complicated corporate cases, that process can take many months. Doubts have already been swirling around whether local U.S. attorneys’ offices will involve themselves aggressively in such cases. Trump’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions, in March asked 46 U.S. attorneys around the country who served under President Barack Obama to step down. That total represents half of all U.S. prosecutors. None of their proposed replacements has yet been confirmed by the Senate.
While it’s customary for a new president to replace nearly all the U.S. attorneys, it often occurs more incrementally.
Here are some of the business cases recently under FBI and Justice Department investigation that could be affected. Several were begun under the Obama administration. Federal criminal probes don’t necessarily result in charges. None of the companies or their executives has been charged.
Wells Fargo & Co.
Investigators have been looking into the actions taken by bank employees to open up to 2 million unauthorized accounts in a drive to meet punishing sales quotas. The scandal erupted in September at the third-largest U.S. bank, triggering the resignation of its CEO, emotional hearings in Congress and over $300 million in civil fines from regulators and in class-action settlements.