US Department switches focus to border and drug cartels

7/2/2025 6:18

The U.S. Justice

Department under President Donald Trump is disbanding an effort

started after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine to enforce

sanctions and target oligarchs close to the Kremlin.



A memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi, issued on Wednesday

during a wave of orders on her first day in office but not

previously reported, said the effort, known as Task Force

KleptoCapture, will end as part of a shift in focus and funding

to combating drug cartels and international gangs.



"This policy requires a fundamental change in mindset and

approach," Bondi wrote in the directive, adding that resources

now devoted to enforcing sanctions and seizing the assets of

oligarchs will be redirected to countering cartels.



The effort, launched during Democratic President Joe Biden's

administration, was designed to strain the finances of wealthy

associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin and punish those

facilitating sanctions and export control violations.



It was part of a broader push to freeze Russia out of global

markets and enforce wide-ranging sanctions imposed on Moscow

amid international condemnation of its war in Ukraine.



The task force brought indictments against aluminum

magnate Oleg Deripaska and TV tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev for

alleged sanctions busting, and seized yachts belonging to

sanctioned oligarchs Suleiman Kerimov and Viktor Vekselberg.



Cases investigated by the task force are likely to continue,

but the work will no longer be centralized at Justice Department

headquarters.



"Are we going to suddenly see a surge of sanctioned oligarch

wealth flood into the United States? I don’t think so," said

Andrew Adams, the first leader of the task force who is now at

law firm Steptoe. "What you will see is a sharp decline in the

pace of charges that target facilitators that are specific to

Russia."



Prosecutors assigned to the task force will return to their

previous posts. The changes will be in effect for at least 90

days and could be renewed or made permanent, according to the

directive.



Trump has spoken about improving relations with Moscow. He

has previously vowed to end the war in Ukraine, though he has

not released a detailed plan.



The emphasis on drug cartels comes after Trump designated

many such groups as terrorist organizations, part of a crackdown

on illegal immigration and fentanyl trafficking.



The shift also implicates enforcement of a U.S. foreign

bribery law that has led to some of the Justice Department's

largest corporate cases over the last decade. The unit enforcing

that law, known as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, will now

prioritize bribery investigations related to cartels, according

to the memo.



A wide range of multinational firms has come under Justice

Department scrutiny over the law, including Goldman Sachs,

Glencore and Walmart.



"It is a radical move away from traditional FCPA cases and

toward a narrow subset of drug and violent crime related cases

that have never been the focus of FCPA enforcement," said

Stephen Frank, a lawyer at law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart &

Sullivan who worked on FCPA cases as a federal prosecutor.