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Haynes & Boone: DOJ's National Fraud Enforcement Division Announces Enforcement Priorities - What You Need to Know
DALLAS, Texas, Aug. 15 [Category: BizLaw/Legal] -- Haynes and Boone, a law firm, posted the following news:
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DOJ's National Fraud Enforcement Division Announces Enforcement Priorities - What You Need to Know
By Ronald W. Breaux, J. Nicholas Bunch, Seth Farber, Taryn McDonald, Bill Morrison, Tim Newman, Richard Weber and Neil Issar
On Aug. 13, 2026, Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald issued a memorandum outlining the enforcement priorities of the Department of Justice's ("DOJ") National Fraud Enforcement Division (the "NFED"). The memo represents the latest and most detailed articulation
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DALLAS, Texas, Aug. 15 [Category: BizLaw/Legal] -- Haynes and Boone, a law firm, posted the following news:
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DOJ's National Fraud Enforcement Division Announces Enforcement Priorities - What You Need to Know
By Ronald W. Breaux, J. Nicholas Bunch, Seth Farber, Taryn McDonald, Bill Morrison, Tim Newman, Richard Weber and Neil Issar
On Aug. 13, 2026, Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald issued a memorandum outlining the enforcement priorities of the Department of Justice's ("DOJ") National Fraud Enforcement Division (the "NFED"). The memo represents the latest and most detailed articulationof how the NFED intends to deploy its resources to combat fraud nationwide. This alert summarizes the memorandum and places it in context alongside prior enforcement announcements.
I. Background
The NFED was established in April 2026 when Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a memorandum directing the Criminal Division's Tax Section; Health Care Fraud Unit, and Market, Government, and Consumer Fraud Unit to be consolidated under a new division dedicated exclusively to fraud enforcement. That memorandum also directed each U.S. Attorney's Office to designate an experienced prosecutor to be detailed to the new division. Moreover, it called for the establishment of a National Fraud Detection Center to help identify fraud and generate leads for investigators and prosecutors. Those moves fulfilled President Trump's January 2026 announcement that the DOJ would create a dedicated fraud enforcement division to address the "rampant and pervasive problem of fraud" across the country.
II. Enforcement Priorities
The NFED has grown rapidly since its April formation. In the latest memorandum, McDonald states that the division will reach approximately 500 attorneys and staff by Aug. 24, 2026, with plans to "significantly increase" personnel and specialists over the next two years. McDonald also emphasizes the NFED's forward-looking approach, describing a goal of building "the most sophisticated, innovative, and data-driven white-collar law enforcement component in the world." Toward that end, McDonald identifies five priority areas for enforcement by the NFED:
1. Public Trust and Financial Integrity. The NFED will prioritize government procurement fraud, including defective pricing, bid rigging, self-dealing, bribery, product substitution, and billing fraud. The division will also focus on fraud impacting federal benefit and grant programs, including student loans, childcare, veterans' benefits, nutritional supplements, disaster relief, and small business programs.
2. Health Care. The NFED's health care fraud targets will include telemedicine fraud, Medicare and Medicaid fraud, illegal prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances like opioids, home health and hospice scams, and deceptive marketing of unsafe products. McDonald also announced an intention to "supercharge" the DOJ's Health Care Fraud Strike Force by leveraging greater resources, data analytics, and technology. We expect the NFED's criminal health care components to work together with the False Claims Act Working Group, which the DOJ established jointly with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in July 2025 to advance the departments' civil enforcement priorities.
3. Internal Revenue. The memorandum highlights criminal tax enforcement as "integral" to the NFED's mandate, targeting unethical return preparers, income concealment, and abusive tax scheme promoters. The division will "foster intra-division and interagency coordination" for an "all-tools response" to those types of fraud.
4. Global Trade and Commerce. Through the cross-agency Trade Fraud Task Force, the NFED will target illicit transshipment schemes, country-of-origin fraud, the undervaluation of imported goods designed to evade duties, sanctions evasion, and foreign forced-labor schemes. The Trade Fraud Task Force was launched in August 2025 and has already surpassed $1 billion in recoveries and charged losses. Taken together, the task force's activity and McDonald's memorandum indicate trade fraud is a durable and significant DOJ priority.
5. Corporate Misconduct. The NFED will hold organizations accountable while rewarding those that voluntarily self-disclose, cooperate, and remediate. This is consistent with the DOJ's existing framework for corporate self-disclosures in criminal matters, as detailed in the updated Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy announced in March 2026.
McDonald's memorandum reflects both continuity with and evolution from prior enforcement announcements. Most notably, then-Criminal Division Head Matthew Galeotti issued a memorandum in May 2025 that identified the DOJ Criminal Division's 10 priority enforcement areas. They included waste, fraud, and abuse, including health care fraud and procurement fraud; trade and customs fraud, including tariff evasion; fraud perpetrated through variable interest entities (VIEs), such as market manipulation schemes; investor fraud, such as Ponzi schemes; threats to national security, including foreign bribery and money laundering; violations of the Controlled Substances Act and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, particularly fentanyl-related manufacturing and opioid distribution; and digital-asset-related crimes. Galeotti's memorandum also highlighted the benefits of self-disclosure, cooperation, and remediation, which allow the DOJ to "[bring] more cases against individual wrongdoers while rewarding good corporate citizens."
The NFED's latest priorities absorb and consolidate those areas, with the core substantive priorities-government fraud, health care fraud, trade fraud, and corporate misconduct and self-disclosure-remaining largely intact. But the McDonald memorandum drops the specific emphasis on certain national security-adjacent priorities (bribery, money laundering, and VIE fraud) and digital assets, and adds a sharper focus on tax and an enforcement approach that is backed by data analytics and technology.
III. Key Takeaways
The McDonald memorandum confirms that the NFED was not created merely as a reorganization exercise but is a significant expansion of the DOJ's fraud enforcement capacity. Companies, health care providers, government contractors, importers, and tax professionals should note the following:
* The substantive enforcement priorities are largely consistent with those announced by the Criminal Division in May 2025, signaling institutional commitment rather than a shift in direction.
* The NFED's organizational consolidation and resource infusion, including the commitment of hundreds of employees and new technology, should lead to reduced red tape, faster investigations, and greater case volume. Companies should ensure their internal investigation and response protocols can keep pace.
* The DOJ is emphasizing an enforcement approach that integrates criminal, civil, and data-driven fraud detection. This may create multiple avenues of enforcement risk. In particular, it appears the NFED will be coordinating with U.S. Attorneys' Offices, the Civil and Criminal Divisions, federal law enforcement, and state and local partners. As a result, companies should anticipate parallel criminal, civil, and state proceedings and plan defense strategy accordingly from the outset.
* Companies in regulated industries should review their compliance programs with attention to the specific fraud categories identified, particularly procurement, health care, tax, and trade, and ensure they can proactively spot red flags and indicators of potential fraud.
* Companies that discover potential fraud should carefully evaluate whether voluntary self-disclosure is appropriate, as the DOJ has made it clear that self-reporting, cooperation, and remediation can result in concrete benefits, including potential declinations and reduced penalties.
Stay tuned to Haynes Boone's News page for the latest news on government enforcement actions and trends. If you have questions or need more information about any of the topics covered in the McDonald memorandum, please contact a member of Haynes Boone's White Collar and Investigations, Government Contracts, or Healthcare and Life Sciences Practice Groups.
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Original text here: https://www.haynesboone.com/news/alerts/dojs-national-fraud-enforcement-division-priorities-what-you-need-to-know
Paul Hastings Advises TD Cowen, Mizuho, H.C. Wainwright & Co. and Lucid Capital Markets on FocalTherics' Underwritten Offering
LOS ANGELES, California, Aug. 14 [Category: BizLaw/Legal] -- Paul Hastings, a law firm, issued the following news:
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Paul Hastings Advises TD Cowen, Mizuho, H.C. Wainwright & Co. and Lucid Capital Markets on FocalTherics' Underwritten Offering
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Paul Hastings LLP advised TD Cowen and Mizuho as joint book-running managers and H.C. Wainwright & Co. and Lucid Capital Markets as co-managers for FocalTherics' pricing of its underwritten public offering of 8,425,000 American Depositary Shares (ADSs), each representing one ordinary share of the company, at a public offering price of $4.75 per
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LOS ANGELES, California, Aug. 14 [Category: BizLaw/Legal] -- Paul Hastings, a law firm, issued the following news:
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Paul Hastings Advises TD Cowen, Mizuho, H.C. Wainwright & Co. and Lucid Capital Markets on FocalTherics' Underwritten Offering
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Paul Hastings LLP advised TD Cowen and Mizuho as joint book-running managers and H.C. Wainwright & Co. and Lucid Capital Markets as co-managers for FocalTherics' pricing of its underwritten public offering of 8,425,000 American Depositary Shares (ADSs), each representing one ordinary share of the company, at a public offering price of $4.75 perADS before underwriting discounts and commissions.
Equity Capital Markets and Corporate Life Sciences co-chair Seo Salimi and partner Will Magioncalda led the Paul Hastings team, which also included associates Adam Swank and Agustina Guazzaroni.
More details can be found here.
About Paul Hastings
With widely recognized elite teams across 17 core practices, Paul Hastings is a premier law firm with a culture of excellence focused on providing intellectual capital and superior execution globally to the world's leading investment banks, asset managers and corporations. For more information, visit www.paulhastings.com.
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Original text here: https://www.paulhastings.com/news/paul-hastings-advises-td-cowen-mizuho-h-c-wainwright-and-co-and-lucid-capital-markets-on-focaltherics-underwritten-offering
Paul Hastings Advises Piper Sandler, BTIG and Brookline Capital Markets on Outlook Therapeutics' Public Offering of Common Stock and Warrants
LOS ANGELES, California, Aug. 14 [Category: BizLaw/Legal] -- Paul Hastings, a law firm, issued the following news:
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Paul Hastings Advises Piper Sandler, BTIG and Brookline Capital Markets on Outlook Therapeutics' Public Offering of Common Stock and Warrants
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Paul Hastings LLP advised Piper Sandler, BTIG and Brookline Capital Markets as underwriters in a public offering by Outlook Therapeutics (Nasdaq: OTLK) of 55,555,556 shares of its common stock and accompanying warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 55,555,556 shares of its common stock at a price of $0.99 per share and accompanying
... Show Full Article
LOS ANGELES, California, Aug. 14 [Category: BizLaw/Legal] -- Paul Hastings, a law firm, issued the following news:
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Paul Hastings Advises Piper Sandler, BTIG and Brookline Capital Markets on Outlook Therapeutics' Public Offering of Common Stock and Warrants
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Paul Hastings LLP advised Piper Sandler, BTIG and Brookline Capital Markets as underwriters in a public offering by Outlook Therapeutics (Nasdaq: OTLK) of 55,555,556 shares of its common stock and accompanying warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 55,555,556 shares of its common stock at a price of $0.99 per share and accompanyingwarrant.
Equity Capital Markets and Corporate Life Sciences co-chair Seo Salimi and partner Will Magioncalda led the Paul Hastings team, which also included associates Adam Swank and Agustina Guazzaroni.
More details can be found here.
About Paul Hastings
With widely recognized elite teams across 17 core practices, Paul Hastings is a premier law firm with a culture of excellence focused on providing intellectual capital and superior execution globally to the world's leading investment banks, asset managers and corporations. For more information, visit www.paulhastings.com.
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Original text here: https://www.paulhastings.com/news/paul-hastings-advises-piper-sandler-btig-and-brookline-capital-markets-on-outlook-therapeutics-public-offering-of-common-stock-and-warrants
Hughes Hubbard & Reed: Jeremy Paner Analyzes Trump Administration's Renewed Economic Pressure Against Iran With Bloomberg
NEW YORK, Aug. 14 -- Hughes Hubbard and Reed, a law firm, issued the following news:
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Jeremy Paner Analyzes Trump Administration's Renewed Economic Pressure Against Iran with Bloomberg
The U.S. is increasing economic pressure on Iran through sanctions and other measures.
Highlights
* The article examines whether further sanctions on buyers of Iranian oil and financial intermediaries could increase pressure on Tehran.
* Paner noted that the U.S. has added approximately 2,200 sanctions on Tehran since 2018, including around 350 imposed as part of the "Economic Fury" initiative.
* Paner
... Show Full Article
NEW YORK, Aug. 14 -- Hughes Hubbard and Reed, a law firm, issued the following news:
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Jeremy Paner Analyzes Trump Administration's Renewed Economic Pressure Against Iran with Bloomberg
The U.S. is increasing economic pressure on Iran through sanctions and other measures.
Highlights
* The article examines whether further sanctions on buyers of Iranian oil and financial intermediaries could increase pressure on Tehran.
* Paner noted that the U.S. has added approximately 2,200 sanctions on Tehran since 2018, including around 350 imposed as part of the "Economic Fury" initiative.
* Panerobserved that additional restrictions on channels used to repatriate proceeds from Iranian oil sales may not achieve the administration's broader objectives.
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Jeremy Paner spoke with Bloomberg about the Trump administration's renewed focus on economic pressure against Iran, including the use of sanctions and other measures aimed at restricting the country's oil revenues and access to global financial markets.
In the article, Paner noted that the United States has added approximately 2,200 sanctions on Tehran since 2018, including around 350 imposed under Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's "Economic Fury" campaign.
He also discussed the role of exchange houses and other intermediaries in helping Iran return funds from oil sales, explaining that additional restrictions on those channels may not be sufficient on their own to achieve the administration's broader objectives.
"Will that get Iran to capitulate? Likely not on its own," Paner said.
Read the article (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-12/trump-reverts-to-economic-squeeze-of-entrenched-iranian-regime).
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Original text here: https://www.hugheshubbard.com/news-insights/insights/jeremy-paner-analyzes-trump-administrations-renewed-economic-pressure-against-iran-with-bloomberg
[Category: BizLaw/Legal]
BlackSea Technologies to Be Acquired by AEVEX for $650 Million
PALO ALTO, California, Aug. 14 -- Cooley, a law firm, issued the following news release:
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BlackSea Technologies to Be Acquired by AEVEX for $650 Million
Cooley advised BlackSea Technologies, a Razor's Edge portfolio company and one of the largest providers of unmanned surface and subsea vessels in the U.S. defense market, on its agreement to be acquired by AEVEX, a leading U.S. defense technology company specializing in autonomous systems, AI enabled mission software, and advanced ISR and electronic warfare solutions. Under the terms of the agreement, AEVEX will acquire BlackSea for $650
... Show Full Article
PALO ALTO, California, Aug. 14 -- Cooley, a law firm, issued the following news release:
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BlackSea Technologies to Be Acquired by AEVEX for $650 Million
Cooley advised BlackSea Technologies, a Razor's Edge portfolio company and one of the largest providers of unmanned surface and subsea vessels in the U.S. defense market, on its agreement to be acquired by AEVEX, a leading U.S. defense technology company specializing in autonomous systems, AI enabled mission software, and advanced ISR and electronic warfare solutions. Under the terms of the agreement, AEVEX will acquire BlackSea for $650million, consisting of approximately $250 million in cash and approximately $350 million in shares of Class A common stock of AEVEX priced at $27.50/share. The transaction also includes $50 million in performance based earnout consideration.
The transaction was announced publicly in the following press release, which can be viewed here.
Andrew Lustig, Aaron Binstock, Kaycie Benesch-Rupp, Nick Kenyon, Sydney Sachs, Elise Robinson and Camille Awono led the Cooley team advising BlackSea Technologies.
Kimberly Nguyen, Bomin Kim, Helenanne Connolly, Virat Gupta, Nyron J. Persaud, Paula M. Fleckenstein, Breanna Qin, Christopher Kimball, Kevin King, Emily A. Mok, David Fletcher, Erin Murray Estevez, Michelle Schulman, Eileen Marshall, Amanda B. Pacheco, Megan Browdie, Julia Brinton, Jennifer C. Ok, Darren DeStefano, Robert Jacques, Loraine Torres, Brandon Lefebvre, Addison F. Pierce, and Yoni Horn provided invaluable support.
Cooley has advised Razor's Edge for over 15 years and advised BlackSea Technologies on the original platform acquisition of Maritime Applied Physics Corporation and the subsequent add-on acquisitions of The Hard Yards, Lakenheath Electronics Design, and Blue Tide Marine.
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About Cooley LLP
Clients partner with Cooley on transformative deals, complex IP and regulatory matters, and high-stakes litigation.
Cooley has nearly 1,400 lawyers across 19 offices in the United States, Asia and Europe, and a total workforce of more than 3,000 people.
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URL: BlackSea Technologies
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Original text here: https://www.cooley.com/news/coverage/2026/2026-08-13-blacksea-technologies-to-be-acquired-by-aevex-for-$650-million
[Category: BizLaw/Legal]
Billy Zhang Named a 2026 ALB Hong Kong Rising Star
BOSTON, Massachusetts, Aug. 14 -- Ropes and Gray, a law firm, issued the following news:
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Billy Zhang Named a 2026 ALB Hong Kong Rising Star
Asset management counsel Billy Zhang, has been named a 2026 ALB Hong Kong Rising Star by Asian Legal Business.
This annual list recognizes Hong Kong's most promising next-generation lawyers based on their work on important matters, service to key clients and notable professional accolades. Honorees are distinguished by their legal expertise, dedication and innovative approaches to client service.
Billy represents global investors and fund sponsors
... Show Full Article
BOSTON, Massachusetts, Aug. 14 -- Ropes and Gray, a law firm, issued the following news:
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Billy Zhang Named a 2026 ALB Hong Kong Rising Star
Asset management counsel Billy Zhang, has been named a 2026 ALB Hong Kong Rising Star by Asian Legal Business.
This annual list recognizes Hong Kong's most promising next-generation lawyers based on their work on important matters, service to key clients and notable professional accolades. Honorees are distinguished by their legal expertise, dedication and innovative approaches to client service.
Billy represents global investors and fund sponsorsacross a broad range of investment structures and transactions, including commingled funds, co-investments, separately managed accounts, continuation vehicles and secondary transactions.
His practice spans real estate, private equity, private credit, infrastructure, venture capital, and technology, media and telecommunications.
See the full list of rising stars (https://www.legalbusinessonline.com/sites/default/files/e-magazines/ALB-ASIA-AUGUST-2026/26/#zoom=true).
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Original text here: https://www.ropesgray.com/en/news-and-events/rankings-and-awards/2026/08/billy-zhang-named-a-2026-alb-hong-kong-rising-star
[Category: BizLaw/Legal]
Akin Advises Apollo S3 as Co-Lead Investor in Exponent's Euros750 Million Continuation Vehicle
WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 -- Akin Gump, a law firm, issued the following news release:
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Akin Advises Apollo S3 as Co-Lead Investor in Exponent's Euros750 Million Continuation Vehicle
Akin advised Apollo S3 as a co-lead investor in the closing of Exponent's, a leading European private equity firm, approximately Euros750 million single-asset continuation vehicle for H&MV Engineering, an Ireland-based provider of specialist high-voltage electrical engineering services for data centers, battery energy storage systems, utilities and renewables.
The Akin team was led by investment management partner
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 -- Akin Gump, a law firm, issued the following news release:
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Akin Advises Apollo S3 as Co-Lead Investor in Exponent's Euros750 Million Continuation Vehicle
Akin advised Apollo S3 as a co-lead investor in the closing of Exponent's, a leading European private equity firm, approximately Euros750 million single-asset continuation vehicle for H&MV Engineering, an Ireland-based provider of specialist high-voltage electrical engineering services for data centers, battery energy storage systems, utilities and renewables.
The Akin team was led by investment management partnerFadi Samman and included fellow investment management partner Brendan McNamara and associates Morgan Hensley and Zhane Austin; corporate partner Timothy Clark and associate Andrea Cabada; and tax partner Alexander Specht and counsel Julie Geng and Mohammed Natha.
For additional information on the transaction, please click here (https://www.exponentpe.com/Exponent-closes-an%20approx-%E2%82%AC750-million-continuation-vehicle-to-extend-partnership-with-H%26MV).
Akin is a leading international law firm with more than 1,100 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
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Original text here: https://www.akingump.com/en/insights/press-releases/akin-advises-apollo-s3-as-co-lead-investor-in-exponents-euro750-million-continuation-vehicle
[Category: BizLaw/Legal]
