CHAPTER III

OPERATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR

THE ECONOMIC CRIME ENFORCEMENT UNITS

The ECE program encompasses both a national aspect, administered by OECE, and a district aspect, directed by OUSA. This program design is predicated on the notion that CRM and the OUSAs, overall, have similar interests.

The program

is expected to realize national objectives, while recognizing the needs and interests of the individual districts. The Specialist, a CRM employee operating within a participating OUSA, is the critical link between these two aspects. He provides support for and reports to both organizations and, when necessary, balances their individual interests.

At the district level, program responsibilities to be administered by the Specialist and accomplished through the ECE unit, are designed to bring a new and unified emphasis to the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of white-collar crime. These responsibilities are:

To compile and analyze information on the district's white-collar
crime problem to form part of a national information system, and
establish local priorities to focus investigative and prosecutive
resources on the district's major problems;

To align the interests and coordinate the efforts of a multitude of
organizations involved in detecting, investigating and prosecuting
white-collar crime;

To focus local attention on the magnitude of white-collar crime,

its costs, and the lack of adequate sanctions against white-collar
crime offenders;

To conduct or organize conferences and seminars to present information, exchange ideas, and encourage the various participants in the law

enforcement effort to cooperate with one another;

To assist investigators and prosecutors in the development and prepara

tion of significant white-collar crime cases by suggesting new investigative techniques and prosecutive approaches, and assisting, when appropriate, in the preparation of briefs, motions and memoranda;

To oversee case development, and coordinate investigative and prosecutive efforts in white-collar crime cases; and

To prosecute significant white-collar crime offenders.

To accomplish these tasks, the Specialist must serve as an information source, advisor, coordinator, and prosecutor. Although he has primary responsibility for ensuring the attainment of program goals and objectives, the Specialist is dependent upon the ECE unit to assist in his efforts, especially in the prosecution of significant white-collar crime cases.

INTERNAL ORGANIZATION AND OPERATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

In forming ECE units in the various OUSAs, CRM was to provide the Office with an experienced attorney, to serve as the Specialist, while the Office was to establish a separate unit to specialize in white-collar crime. Organizational formation of the unit within the OUSA was left to the discretion of the individual U.S. Attorneys. As a result, several different configurations have been developed for the units' organization, the Specialist's relationship to the unit, and the placement of each within the OUSA. (See Unit Profiles, Appendix VI.)

Office Organization: These unit configurations are derived from the overall office structure (including the presence of pre-existing units), the nature and scope of the white-collar crime problem, the organization of the Federal judiciary, and the U.S. Attorney's perception of the program and the Specialist's role. The office and unit organization may be described as structured or flexible, and the Specialist's relationship to the unit as integral or adjunctive.

Generally, the study team found the larger the office, the higher the degree of specialization among the AUSAs within the office, and therefore, the more structured the organization of the OUSA. In contrast, the smaller offices, having fewer resources, usually remain more flexible in order to meet the demands of their responsibilities in numerous cases and matters. Their attorneys are, for the most part, generalists.

The Attorney General's Order establishing the units outlined a structure for these units: three experienced AUSAS (unless otherwise agreed to by the Deputy Attorney General), assigned to the unit full-time for at least 18 months. The intent of this directive was to provide continuity and specialization in the prosecution of white-collar crime cases, and to ensure the availability of adequate prosecutive resources. Although all the OUSAS visited had established separate units, the larger offices were better able to meet these specifications in form, while the smaller offices had difficulty in attaining the structured unit format. In general, the latter offices were unable either to designate the minimum number of attorneys or to devote their resources full-time to the ECE unit.

The following examples illustrate how the above factors affect unit organization. In one district, where there was a history of public corruption, a Special Prosecutions Division was established prior to the implementation of the ECE program. The U.S. Attorney's perceived need was to expand his office's capabilities in the area of fraud prosecutions. Thus, the Specialist was to work in conjunction with the Special Prosecutions Division, concentrate on fraud matters, and draw on that Division's manpower as necessary. Another U.S. Attorney split his unit to cover the main office and two staffed branch offices so as to provide better service for the judges sitting in those three locations. A third district had a rather low level of awareness of whitecollar crime, and most AUSAS had little experience prosecuting significant white-collar cases. The U.S. Attorney required overall assistance in developing enforcement efforts, had few AUSAs, and a very informal office structure. Therefore, the Specialist was brought in as the Unit Chief, and the OUSA assigned two full-time AUSAs for an ECE unit.

Assistant U.S. Attorney: Assigning AUSAs to the ECE unit is the prerogative of the U.S. Attorney. In general, the assigned unit Attorneys are experienced prosecutors, either as AUSAs, State or private attorneys; many have prior experience in the area of white-collar crime. While the minimum number of AUSAS to be assigned to a unit is set at three, at the time of this study, the number of AUSAS assigned to each of the seven ECE units ranged from one to 13, as follows:

⭑ In these OUSAS, the ECE unit is nominally referred to as a Special Prosecution Unit or Division. It functions as an ECE unit, although the AUSAS will be involved in prosecuting other major cases in addition to white-collar crime cases.

Although some units do not have the minimum number of AUSAs assigned fulltime to the ECE unit, it is important to note that there are other experienced AUSAS who work part-time with the unit in prosecuting white-collar crime cases.

The units' caseloads are predominately white-collar crimes, however, some of these units do handle non-white-collar crime cases. This has resulted from program and unit design as well as the phase of implementation currently in progress. Some of the pre-existing units were designated as Special Prosecution Units, to handle significant cases; thus, some of the office's best prosecutors are in this unit, and their expertise may be necessary to handle significant non-white-collar crime cases. Additionally, where the program is just being implemented, it is likely that fewer significant cases exist, so that prosecutive expertise might be idle, if not handling non-unit

cases.