Criminal Defense Lawyers

Do the feds always send a target letter?

If your reading this, theres a pretty good chance your worried about something. Maybe you heard that a colleague or business partner is under federal investigation. Maybe you got a strange phone call. Maybe FBI agents showed up at your workplace asking questions about someone you know—and now your wondering if your next.

And the question thats probably running through your mind is this: will the feds actually send me a letter warning me before anything happens?

The answer might not be what you want to hear.

Alot of people assume that if the federal government is going to charge you with a crime, theyll give you some kind of heads-up first. A letter. A phone call. Something that lets you know whats coming so you can prepare. Its a reasonable assumption—after all, shouldnt you have the right to know that your under investigation before your arrested?

Heres the uncomfortable reality: there is no such right. And most people who get indicted by the federal government never receive any warning at all.

The Short Answer—No, They Dont Have To

Lets get this out of the way immediately: there is no federal law requiring prosecutors to send you a target letter. None. Zero. Its not a legal requirement. Its not a constitutional obligation. Its not something your entitled to.

What most people call a “target letter” is actually just a courtesy notification. The Department of Justice recommends that prosecutors send them in certain situations—but recommends is the key word. Its policy, not law. And policy can be ignored whenever a prosecutor decides it serves their purposes to do so.

The DOJ Justice Manual, Section 9-11.151, talks about target letters. But if you read it carefully, youll notice it doesnt require anything. It suggests. It recommends. It says prosecutors “should” consider sending them. None of that language creates any legal obligation.

What this means in practice is that most people the federal government indicts never receive a target letter. The letter is the exception, not the rule. If your waiting for some official notification before anything happens, you might be waiting until handcuffs are on your wrists.

I know thats not what you wanted to hear. But understanding this reality is the first step toward protecting yourself.

Why the Government Usually Stays Silent

Think about it from the prosecutors perspective for a minute. Actually, let me back up. Think about what happens when someone finds out there under federal investigation.

They might destroy evidence. Shred documents. Delete emails. Wipe hard drives. The moment you know your a target, you have an incentive to make evidence disappear—and federal prosecutors know this.

They might flee. Buy a one-way ticket to a country without an extradition treaty. Move assets offshore. Disappear before charges can be filed. Some people have the resources to do this, and prosecutors dont want to give them a head start.

They might coordinate stories. Talk to co-conspirators. Get everyone on the same page about what to say and what not to say. Rehearse alibis. Create false documentation. The more warning you have, the more time you have to construct a defense—legitimate or otherwise.

From the governments perspective, silence is an advantage. Surprise is a weapon. If you dont know your under investigation, you cant take steps to undermine that investigation. You keep living your normal life, generating more evidence, making more statements that can be used against you later.

So when prosecutors have a choice between sending you a warning letter or keeping you in the dark, they usually choose darkness. Its not personal. Its strategy.

When They DO Send Target Letters

Now heres the thing. If target letters arent required, and if keeping you in the dark is usually the governments preference, why do they ever send them at all?

I know what your thinking. Your thinking maybe its because prosecutors are decent people who want to give you a fair chance. And look—some are. But thats usually not why target letters get sent.

The real reason is almost always strategic. When a prosecutor sends you a target letter, its usually because they want something from you.

Heres the deal: target letters are often the governments way of opening cooperation negotiations. They believe you have information about other people—bigger targets, higher-value defendants. They want you to flip. The letter is essentially saying “we have evidence against you, and we’re about to move forward—but if you want to talk first, heres your chance.”

Studies suggest that target letters are disproportionately sent in cases where cooperation is valuable. White-collar crime. Complex fraud schemes. Conspiracies with multiple defendants. Situations where an insider can help prosecutors understand whats really going on.

If your suspected of a violent crime or simple drug possession, your much less likely to receive any advance warning. Those cases dont typically require cooperation to prosecute successfully. The evidence speaks for itself.

So if you do receive a target letter, dont mistake it for generosity. Its an invitation. And what there inviting you to do is help them prosecute someone else.

The White-Collar Exception

Theres a reason white-collar defendants are more likely to get target letters than other suspects. Several reasons, actually.

First, the evidence in financial crime cases is mostly documentary. Bank records. Emails. Tax returns. Contracts. This evidence already exists in third-party hands—banks, accountants, business partners, email servers. Telling you about the investigation doesnt give you much opportunity to destroy evidence because the government can get it from other sources.

Compare this to, say, a drug trafficking case. If dealers know there under investigation, they can flush the drugs. Destroy the burner phones. Make the physical evidence disappear. Documentary evidence is different—its already out there, and prosecutors can subpoena it without your cooperation.

Second, white-collar defendants are less likely to flee. Most executives and professionals have families, careers, reputations. There not going to abandon everything and move to a non-extradition country. The flight risk calculation is different for someone with deep community ties versus someone with nothing to lose.

Third—and this is the big one—white-collar cases often depend on cooperation. Financial fraud schemes are complicated. Prosecutors need insiders to explain how everything worked, who knew what, where the money went. A target letter opens the door to that cooperation in a way that a surprise arrest doesnt.

So if your involved in any kind of financial irregularity—healthcare fraud, tax evasion, securities violations, government contract fraud—your more likely to receive a letter than someone suspected of teh average street crime. Thats not necessarily good news. It just means the government has calculated that your more useful as a cooperator than as a surprise defendant.

Who Actually Sends Target Letters?

When people talk about “the feds” sending target letters, there talking about multiple agencies. Its not just the FBI.

Target letters can come from:

The Department of Justice (DOJ) — The parent agency overseeing federal prosecutions. Main Justice in Washington sends letters for nationally significant cases.

U.S. Attorneys Offices — These are the local federal prosecutors in each district. Most target letters come from Assistant US Attorneys (AUSAs) handling specific investigations.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) — While the FBI conducts investigations, the actual target letters typically come from prosecutors. But FBI agents are often involved in the decision.

Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) — For tax crimes, the IRS criminal division works with DOJ to send target letters.

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) — For drug trafficking cases, though these less commonly involve target letters.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — For securities fraud. The SEC sends Wells Notices, which are similar to target letters for civil enforcement.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) — For weapons and explosives violations.

Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) — For healthcare fraud cases.

Different agencies, different letterheads, same message: your in serious trouble. The specific agency matters less than the fact that you’ve been formally notified your a target.

Alternative Ways You Might Find Out

If the government doesnt send you a target letter, how else might you find out your under investigation? The options range from subtle to catastrophic.

FBI agents knock on your door. Two agents in suits show up at your home or office, asking if you have “a few minutes to talk.” This is often the first indication people have that there being investigated. By the way—you should not talk to them without an attorney present, regardless of how friendly they seem or how innocent you believe yourself to be.

Grand jury subpoena arrives. You receive a subpoena to testify before a grand jury or to produce documents. Sometimes people are called as witnesses who later become targets. Third… actually, I should mention—if you receive a subpoena, get an attorney immediately, even if your told your “just a witness.”

Search warrant executed. Federal agents show up with a warrant and start going through your home, office, or vehicle. This is about as subtle as a brick through a window. By the time agents are executing search warrants, the investigation is typically well advanced.

Your employer notifies you. The government contacts your company, and HR calls you into a meeting. Many people find out about federal investigations through their employers, especially in corporate fraud cases.

A co-worker or associate gets arrested. Someone you know gets picked up by federal agents, and now your wondering if your next. This is how alot of people first realize there might be a problem.

You read your name in the news. In some cases, people find out there being investigated—or even that they’ve been indicted—from media reports. Its not supposed to happen this way, but it does.

Arrest without any warning. This is the worst-case scenario. You wake up to pounding on your door at 6 AM, and agents are there with handcuffs. No letter. No subpoena. No warning. Just arrest.

What No Letter Actually Means

Heres something that keeps people up at night: not getting a target letter doesnt mean your safe.

If you think you might be under investigation but havent received any notification, that could mean alot of things. None of them are necessarily good.

It could mean the investigation is still ongoing. Maybe there still gathering evidence. Maybe there watching you, monitoring your communications, building their case. The absence of a letter doesnt mean the absence of an investigation.

It could mean you havent risen to target status yet. Federal investigations categorize people as targets, subjects, and witnesses. You might currently be a “subject”—someone whose conduct is within the scope of the investigation but who isnt definitively believed to have committed a crime. Subjects can become targets at any moment.

It could mean prosecutors prefer surprise. As we discussed, keeping you in the dark gives the government advantages. There might be a perfectly good reason why there not telling you anything—and that reason might be that there planning to arrest you without warning.

It could mean they dont need your cooperation. If you have nothing to offer—no information about bigger targets, no inside knowledge of a complex scheme—theres no reason for them to open negotiations. The letter is a tool for getting cooperation. If they dont need you to cooperate, they wont bother with the letter.

The point is this: silence from the government is not evidence of safety. Its just silence. And in federal criminal investigations, silence can be followed by sudden, overwhelming action.

The Waiting Game Is Their Game

If you suspect your under investigation but havent received any notification, your in a uniquely difficult position. You know something might be wrong, but you dont know for sure. You cant prepare properly because you dont know what your preparing for. And the government has absolutely no obligation to tell you anything.

Some people live with this uncertainty for years. Literal years. Federal investigations can take a very long time, especially complex financial cases. The government has no deadline to make a decision. There is no statute requiring them to charge you within a certain period of receiving evidence—only statutes of limitations on when crimes can be prosecuted from when they were committed.

This means you could spend years wondering if today is the day. Jumping every time theres a knock on the door. Checking the news for your name. Watching your bank accounts for signs of asset freezes. Its an exhausting way to live.

And heres the thing—I should be honest about this—there might not be anything you can do to speed up the process. You cant force the government to tell you whether your under investigation. You cant demand they make a charging decision. The waiting game is their game, and there playing it on their schedule, not yours.

What you can do is prepare. Have an attorney. Have a plan. Understand your rights. Know what you’ll do if agents show up. Being prepared doesnt make the waiting easier, but it does make the potential outcome better.

If You DO Get a Letter—What It Reveals

Lets say you actually receive a target letter. What does that tell you about your situation?

First, it means the government sees potential value in your cooperation. They wouldn’t bother notifying you if they just planned to indict and arrest you. The letter is an opening. There saying “we have evidence against you, and were prepared to move forward—but lets talk first.”

Second, it suggests you have information worth trading for. Nobody sends a target letter to the small fish who has nothing to offer. If there reaching out, its because they believe you can help them catch bigger targets. This is both an opportunity and a warning—an opportunity because cooperation can reduce your exposure, and a warning because they already have enough to charge you.

Third, it means there confident enough to show their hand. Sending a target letter reveals that you’re a target. Prosecutors dont do this unless there already confident in their case. If they were still just fishing around, theyd keep investigating quietly. The letter means the investigation is advanced—probably close to a charging decision.

Fourth—and this is important—actually, let me say this directly: if you received a target letter and someone else involved in the same situation didnt, you might not be the biggest fish. The government often targets cooperators differently than kingpins. The cooperator gets a letter and a chance to talk. The kingpin gets arrested.

Fifth, there’s a narrow window. The letter usually includes a deadline—typically 10 to 30 days—to respond. Once that window closes, you’ve lost leverage. Pre-indictment cooperation is worth more than post-indictment cooperation. The clock is ticking.

Multi-Defendant Dynamics

In cases involving multiple defendants, something interesting happens: some people get target letters and others dont. And theres usually a reason.

Those the government wants to flip get letters. If you have information that can help convict others, the prosecution wants to open negotiations. They want you thinking about cooperation before charges are filed, while you still have maximum leverage and maximum incentive to talk.

Those the government considers “kingpins” often dont get letters. The main target—the person at the center of the alleged conspiracy—typically gets arrested without warning. Why give them time to prepare, destroy evidence, or coordinate with co-conspirators?

And heres the thing nobody wants to hear: if your co-conspirator got a target letter and you didnt, thats probably not good news. It might mean your the main target. Or it might mean they already have enough evidence against you from other sources—including, potentially, your co-conspirator’s cooperation.

The race to the prosecutors door is real. In multi-defendant cases, the first person to cooperate typically gets the best deal. If you know others involved have received target letters, you should assume there considering cooperation. And if there cooperating, they might be talking about you.

Dont wait to see what happens. In this race, second place can mean the difference between probation and decades in prison.

Protecting Yourself Without a Letter

So what should you do if you suspect your under federal investigation but havent received any notification?

Retain a federal criminal defense attorney immediately. Dont wait for a letter. Dont wait for agents to knock on your door. If you have any reason to believe you might be under investigation—a subpoena to a colleague, questions from your employer, anything—talk to a lawyer now. Not next week. Now.

Preserve all documents. I cannot emphasize this enough. From the moment you suspect an investigation, your document preservation obligation is absolute. Deleting emails is obstruction. Shredding papers is obstruction. “Cleaning up” files is obstruction. Leave everything exactly where it is.

Dont discuss the matter with potential witnesses. For all intensive purposes, anyone who might have relevant information is a potential witness—and talking to them about the situation could be construed as witness tampering or obstruction. Keep your mouth shut.

Dont talk to federal agents without counsel present. If agents show up asking questions, you have the right to have an attorney present. Exercise that right. Be polite, but be firm. “I’d be happy to speak with you once my attorney is present.” Thats all you need to say.

Have your attorney make discreet inquiries. An experienced federal defense lawyer can sometimes reach out to the relevant US Attorneys office or agency to learn whether there’s an active investigation. This doesnt always work, but its worth trying. At minimum, it establishes that your represented by counsel.

Prepare for the possibility of sudden arrest. Have affairs in order. Know who will handle family and business matters if your suddenly unavailable. Have bail resources identified. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

The fact that you havent received a target letter doesnt mean you should wait around doing nothing. Proactive preparation is always better than reactive panic.

The Questions Everyone Asks

“What is a target letter from the FBI?”

A target letter is a formal notification that your the target of a federal criminal investigation. It typically identifies the investigation, lists the potential crimes being considered, informs you of your Fifth Amendment rights, and may include an invitation to cooperate or appear before a grand jury. The FBI is one of several agencies that can be involved in target letter cases, though the letter itself usually comes from federal prosecutors.

“What does the FBI target letter look like?”

Target letters are official correspondence, typically on DOJ or US Attorneys Office letterhead. They identify you by name, reference the investigation, list relevant criminal statutes, explain your constitutional rights, and include a deadline for response. Formats vary by district and prosecutor, but the basic elements are consistent. If your unsure whether something you received is a target letter, show it to an attorney immediately.

“Who sends a target letter?”

Target letters are sent by federal prosecutors—either the Department of Justice in Washington or Assistant US Attorneys in local districts. The investigation itself might be conducted by any federal agency (FBI, IRS-CI, DEA, SEC, etc.), but the letter comes from prosecutors because there the ones making charging decisions.

“How long after a target letter is indictment?”

There is no set timeline. Some people are indicted within weeks of receiving a target letter. Others hear nothing for months or even years. It depends on the complexity of the case, the prosecutors caseload, and whether cooperation negotiations are ongoing. In the Southern District of New York (SDNY), things tend to move fast—sometimes three weeks or less from letter to indictment. Other districts move slower.

What To Do Right Now

Heres the bottom line: dont wait for a letter that may never come.

If you have any reason to believe your under federal investigation—any reason at all—the time to act is now. Not when you receive something official. Not when agents knock on your door. Not when your name appears in an indictment. Now.

The federal government is not required to warn you. Most people who get indicted receive no advance notice. The target letter is a courtesy that most defendants never receive. Waiting for one is waiting for something that statistically probably wont happen.

At Spodek Law Group, weve represented clients at every stage of federal investigations—from the first hint of trouble through trial and beyond. Todd Spodek, our managing partner, has built a practice around federal criminal defense. Were based in Brooklyn, but we handle federal cases nationwide. If your worried about a potential investigation, call us at 212-300-5196. Today.

Because the feds probably wont send you a letter. And if your waiting for one, you might already be out of time.