DOJ Justifies Wiederhorn Case End by Citing White Collar Shift

Prosecutors pointed to a pair of 2025 Justice Department memos on shifting enforcement priorities to justify tossing corporate fraud charges against Donald Trump donor Andrew Wiederhorn in a Tuesday filing.

Allegations that Wiederhorn, founder and chairman of FAT Brands, Inc., helped conceal $47 million from the IRS aren’t within the scope of priorities laid out in memos issued by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Matthew Galeotti, the head of DOJ’s criminal division, said the filing in the US District Court for the Central District of California.

The case should be dropped because prosecutors are focusing resources on other areas and Judge R. Gary Klausner should defer to the office’s priorities, Los Angeles federal prosecutors wrote.

Bondi’s Feb. 5 memo directs DOJ to focus resources on areas including immigration enforcement, human trafficking, and drug cartels. Galeotti’s May 12 memo said too much white-collar enforcement burdens US businesses and prosecutors should avoid “overreach that punishes risk-taking and hinders innovation.”

“Criminal prosecutions are not the only means to address potential violations of the law,” a footnote in the Tuesday court filing said. “The course of conduct alleged in the indictment is also the subject of a pending SEC action.”

Klausner on Aug. 1 ordered prosecutors to explain their move to dismiss the indictment of Wiederhorn, who was described in a 2024 DOJ news release as a “serial tax cheat” and pleaded guilty two decades ago to federal felony counts related to his business dealings.

The indictment also names as co-defendants FAT Brands, its former chief financial officer, and an outside accountant.

Acting US Attorney Bill Essayli signed a motion to dismiss the case July 29, immediately before he ended his time as interim US attorney to assume the longer-term “acting” role. The federal bench didn’t move to appoint him indefinitely.

The case is USA v. Wiederhorn, C.D. Cal., No. 2:24-cr-00295, 8/5/25.