Trump’s DEI Order Creates Murky Fraud Risks for Contractors

Ambiguities in a Trump executive order are sowing compliance concerns among federal contractors, as the directive enables the novel potential prosecution of businesses with government pacts for fraud related to diversity practices deemed discriminatory.

President Donald Trump’s sweeping Jan. 21 action revoked a decades-old executive order used to combat race and sex discrimination at federal contractor worksites and enforce affirmative action obligations.

But one of its most consequential aspects is a provision requiring private companies with federal contracts, which comprise some of the nation’s largest employers like Deloitte LLP, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Microsoft Corp., to ...