The first three years of the Trump administration have seen plunging enforcement of laws governing white-collar financial crimes compared to enforcement of such laws during the Obama administration, according to Bloomberg. The prosecution of securities fraud, antitrust violations and other such crimes has hit a record low, Bloomberg said, relying on data from the Department of Justice and Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. The annual number of white-collar defendants is down by 26 to 30 percent, while fines on corporations fell by 76 percent in the Trump administration's first 20 months compared with the Obama administration's final 20 months. Bloomberg also reports a fall in deferred prosecution agreements, as well as fewer racketeering and money-laundering cases, which carry harsher penalties.

The Justice Department defended its record, saying that it has overseen a 59 percent increase in individuals charged between 2016 and 2019 and a jump of more than a quarter in those convicted. Bloomberg noted, however, that these figures reflect a shift to generally prosecuting more immigration-related cases as well as corporate espionage.

Bloomberg noted that the number of tax cases has also fallen significantly, with investigations of crimes such as tax evasion, money laundering and identity theft down by 36 percent over the past three years.

One reason for this reduction could be a change in policy that previously counted a corporation as cooperating only if it went to the authorities first; the current administration changed the policy to make it easier to be seen as cooperating, even if the government had to go to the company first.