Consider another paradox of the post-COVID world: The pandemic that initially disrupted federal prosecution of corporations has now heightened potential exposure in a number of areas. This is especially the case for those organizations that took advantage of government aid or today struggle to navigate snarled global supply chains.

It’s a well-established pattern. When Washington infuses the American economy with massive amounts of financial assistance to weather a crisis, as it did with the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, its investigative apparatus ramps up to combat fraud and misuse of those funds. A 21st century example was the creation of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which was a special investigative entity that investigated and ferreted out fraud within one of the government’s program used to help the economy recover from the 2008 subprime mortgage debacle. Here, shortly after Attorney General Merrick Garland took office in 2021, the Justice Department warned that anyone using the global pandemic to “scam and steal from hardworking Americans” would be found and prosecuted.