Justice Department pledges to focus on Wall Street crime

 

PHOTO: U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White HouseWashington (CNN)The Justice Department says it will undertake a new effort to combat white-collar crime in the wake of the financial crisis and corporate misconduct on Wall Street.

"Crime is crime. And it is our obligation at the Justice Department to ensure that we are holding lawbreakers accountable regardless of whether they commit their crimes on the street corner or in the board room," Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates will say in a speech Thursday, according to excerpts obtained by CNN.

The department on Wednesday issued a new memo to prosecutors explaining how it would tackle wrongdoing that placed new restrictions on corporations that don't report misconduct and amended how settlements will be reached. Prosecutors will also increasingly pursue corporations in lawsuits rather than civil cases against individuals.

The memo could indicate which direction new Attorney General Loretta Lynch will steer the department, which in recent years has focused on terrorism.

"Our mission here is not to recover the largest amount of money from the greatest number of corporations; our job is to seek accountability from those who break our laws and victimize our citizens," Yates will say. "There is real value, however, in bringing civil cases against individuals who engage in corporate misconduct, even if that value cannot always be measured in dollars and cents.By Theodore Schleifer and Evan Perez, CNN