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1-12.000
Coordination of Parallel Criminal, Civil, and Administrative Proceedings


The Attorney General issued a Memorandum on July 28, 1997, requiring a system for coordinating the criminal, civil and administrative aspects of all white-collar crime matters within every United States Attorney's office and each Department Litigating Division. The system should contain management procedures to address issues of parallel proceedings including:

  • timely assessment of the civil and administrative potential in all criminal case referrals, indictments, and declinations;

  • timely assessment of the criminal potential in all civil case referrals and complaints;

  • effective and timely communication with cognizant agency officials, including suspension and debarment authorities, to enable agencies to pursue available remedies;

  • early and regular communication between civil and criminal attorneys regarding qui tam and other civil referrals, especially when the civil case is developing ahead of the criminal prosecution; and

  • coordination, when appropriate, with state and local authorities.

The Attorney General has further directed that appropriate staff in each office receive comprehensive training regarding parallel proceedings utilizing a course of instruction and training materials to be developed by the Council on White-Collar Crime and the Office of Legal Education.

The full text of this Memorandum is in the DOJ Organization and Functions Manual at 27.

[Updated February 1998] [cited in USAM 4-4.110; 5-11.112]