DOJ Directive 26-13 Reshapes Asset Seizure and Forfeiture Policy
DOJ's Directive 26-13, issued to all DOJ personnel on October 7, 2026, sets a new approach to asset seizure and forfeiture in fraud cases, with direct implications for corporate targets, their banks, and defense strategy.
On October 7, 2026, Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald issued Directive 26-13, "A Comprehensive Approach in the Fight Against Fraud," to all Department of Justice personnel. According to a Husch Blackwell client alert — the only reporting in this cluster — the memo addresses how DOJ will approach asset seizure and forfeiture in fraud matters and what it means for companies.
Why sophisticated counsel should care: asset seizure and forfeiture are among the most consequential levers in federal fraud enforcement, and a written DOJ-wide directive signals a standardized prosecutorial posture rather than case-by-case discretion. For corporate clients and their banks, that can affect how aggressively prosecutors move against seized funds, how broadly the net is drawn across multi-party fraud schemes, and how defense teams sequence challenges to freezing, detention, and forfeiture proceedings against parallel regulatory and civil tracks. The alert frames the directive as company-facing, suggesting operational takeaways for compliance and internal investigations functions.
What to watch: the memo's operative instructions, any companion guidance from the Criminal Division or the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, and the first applications in enforcement actions. Caveat: the substantive contents of Directive 26-13 are not independently verified here; this summary rests on a single secondary source and should be read against the original memorandum.