90 FR 117 pgs. 26413-26414 - Guidance on Referrals for Potential Criminal Enforcement
Type: NOTICEVolume: 90Number: 117Pages: 26413 - 26414
Pages: 26413, 26414Docket number: [Docket ID OCC-2025-0042]
FR document: [FR Doc. 2025-11329 Filed 6-18-25; 8:45 am]
Agency: Treasury Department
Sub Agency: Customs Service
Official PDF Version: PDF Version
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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
[Docket ID OCC-2025-0042]
Guidance on Referrals for Potential Criminal Enforcement
ACTION:
Notice.
SUMMARY:
This notice describes Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's (OCC) plans to address criminally liable regulatory offenses under the recent executive order on Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Chief Counsel's Office, (202) 649-5490, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 400 7th Street SW, Washington, DC 20219. If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
On May 9, 2025, the President issued Executive Order ("E.O.") 14294, Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations. 90 FR 20363 (published May 14, 2025). Section 7 of E.O. 14294 provides that within 45 days of the order, and in consultation with the Attorney General, each agency should publish guidance in the Federal Register describing its plan to address criminally liable regulatory offenses.
[top] Consistent with that requirement, the OCC advises the public that by May 9, 2026, the OCC, in consultation with the Attorney General, will provide to the
Footnotes:
1 ?"Criminal regulatory offense" means a Federal regulation that is enforceable by a criminal penalty. E.O. 14294, sec. 3(b).
2 ?"Mens rea" means the state of mind that by law must be proven to convict a particular defendant of a particular crime. E.O. 14294, sec. 3(c).
This notice also announces a general policy, subject to appropriate exceptions and to the extent consistent with law, that when the OCC is deciding whether to refer alleged violations of criminal regulatory offenses to DOJ, officers and employees of the OCC should consider, among other factors:
• the harm or risk of harm, pecuniary or otherwise, caused by the alleged offense;
• the potential gain to the putative defendant that could result from the offense;
• whether the putative defendant held specialized knowledge, expertise, or was licensed in an industry related to the rule or regulation at issue; and
• evidence, if any is available, of the putative defendant's general awareness of the unlawfulness of his conduct as well as his knowledge or lack thereof of the regulation at issue.
This general policy is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
Date: June 16, 2025.
Patrick T. Tierney,
Assistant Director, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
[FR Doc. 2025-11329 Filed 6-18-25; 8:45 am]
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