In a matter of months, the Department of Justice has largely dismantled the infrastructure for prosecuting rich criminals, functionally shuttering the Public Integrity Section, pausing foreign bribery prosecutions, and disbanding the KleptoCapture Task Force, among other actions. In a world where the Department of Justice is no longer interested in pursuing rich criminals, what can people--law students, private practitioners, academics, and state and local governments--do to make sure that the very wealthy are not put beyond the reach of the law?

Brendan Ballou is a former federal prosecutor and former Special Counsel for Private Equity at the U.S. Department of Justice. He is the author of Plunder: Private Equity’s Plan to Pillage America and the forthcoming When Companies Run the Courts (PublicAffairs). His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Politico, The Atlantic, and Slate.