(FOX NEWS) — President-elect Joe Biden is calling for the Justice Department to look into reinstating a controversial Obama-era practice that allowed prosecutors to make settlement agreements that resulted in defendants paying outside groups instead of victims or the government.
The Trump administration had put an end to these payments following a 2017 memo from then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions which was reflected in the Justice Department’s manual.
“When the federal government settles a case against a corporate wrongdoer, any settlement funds should go first to the victims and then to the American people — not to bankroll third-party special interest groups or the political friends of whoever is in power,” Sessions said in 2017.
