17. Department of Justice · Notable
Prohibit settlement payments to third parties
Printed page 558 17. Department of Justice
“Enact policies and regulations that prohibit settlement payments to third parties.”
What has happened
- Done
The Attorney General reinstated the prohibition. The memorandum rescinds the May 2022 Attorney General guidelines permitting settlement payments to non-governmental third parties and the July 2023 Environment and Natural Resources Division memorandum on community service payments in environmental crimes cases, and states that settlements — civil agreements, deferred prosecution agreements, non-prosecution agreements and plea agreements alike — may not require payments to non-governmental organizations that were neither victims nor parties, except in limited circumstances. The Associate Attorney General was given 30 days to report on measures to eliminate the practice.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
The Quote asks for ‘policies and regulations’. The prohibition is in force as policy department-wide; no rulemaking codified it, which leaves it revocable by a future Attorney General. Read as delivered because the named object — third-party settlement payments — is prohibited; see Judgment calls.
- Action
- issue
- Object
- third-party settlement payments
- ID
- 1558