TO THE OFFICER IN CHARGE OF SUPERVISION AT EACH FEDERAL RESERVE BANK
Recent concerns regarding the coordination of major
cases involving criminal, civil and administrative actions by the
U.S. Department of Justice, other federal law enforcement
agencies, and the financial institutions supervisory agencies, as
well as concerns about the collection of court ordered fines and
restitution, have resulted in the development of the attached
interagency Policy Statement Regarding National Policy on
Collection and Reporting Procedures For Restitution Payable to
Financial Institution Regulatory Agencies (the "Coordination
Policy"). The Coordination Policy was drafted by representatives
of the various agencies comprising the Interagency Bank Fraud
Working Group (the "Working Group"). It was then adopted by the
Senior Interagency Group, the statutory parent organization of
the Working Group, when the General Counsels of the bank and
thrift regulatory agencies and senior representatives of several
federal law enforcement agencies, including the Department of
Justice, met on June 25, 1992.
The Coordination Policy addresses the problems
associated with the coordination of major cases between the bank
regulatory and law enforcement agencies. "Major cases" are
defined in the Coordination Policy to include, among others,
those criminal matters involving losses of more than $100,000 to
financial institutions, or suspected illegal conduct by insiders,
such as officers and directors. Under the terms of the
Coordination Policy, there will be increased levels of
communication between the Department of Justice and the various
offices of the United States Attorney and the bank and thrift
regulatory agencies. Representatives of federal law enforcement
agencies should now be contacting the bank and thrift regulatory
agencies in order to ensure that appropriate efforts are made to
coordinate investigations and prosecutions, including identifying
assets for eventual recoveries. Federal Reserve Banks and the
regional offices of the other regulators will also be required to
provide certain information concerning major cases to federal
prosecutors in accordance with the provisions of the Coordination
Policy. This information includes data on losses associated with
criminal misconduct, investigatory information from grand juries
under the provisions of section 3322 of Title 18 of the U.S.
Criminal Code, and information pertinent to sentencing matters
provided to the U.S. Probation Office. The interagency policy
also focuses on the mechanisms that are needed to enhance the
reporting of information about such cases and the collection of
any fines or restitution ordered by federal courts and by the
regulatory agencies during the course of their administrative
enforcement efforts.
In order to ensure the Federal Reserve's compliance
with the new Coordination Policy--most particularly the
provisions relating to the coordination of major case
investigations and prosecutions at the local levels between U.S.
Attorneys and the appropriate Federal Reserve Banks--we would
appreciate your Reserve Bank assigning an official contact person
for the purposes of the Coordination Policy and providing us, by
July 17, 1992, with the name of that individual. Information
concerning the contact person should be sent to Richard A. Small,
Special Counsel, Enforcement Section, Stop 175, at the Board.
Once each Reserve Bank has identified its contact person, we will
convene a conference call and start the process of developing our
procedures to best effect the purposes of the Coordination
Policy.
Please contact Mr. Small at (202) 452-5235, or me at
(202) 452-2620 with any questions.
Assistant Director Attachment
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