Marshals Service Pays Informants Through Deputies' Bank Accounts, DOJ Inspector General Finds in Review of Informant Rules

The U.S. Marshals Service sends money meant for confidential informants directly to deputy marshals' bank accounts, where it is withdrawn and handed over, a method the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General said "increases operational security risks and does not adequately safeguard against fraud." The finding is part of an audit released Wednesday that reviewed how the department's four main law enforcement agencies manage their informants.

The audit, Report 27-003, compared the informant policies of the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Marshals Service against department-wide rules. It found gaps at all four agencies and made five recommendations.

Confidential Informants Paid Through Deputies' Accounts

According to the report, the Marshals Service has an electronic system for approving and documenting informant payments, but the payments themselves are "sent directly to Deputy U.S. Marshal bank accounts for withdrawal and payment to CIs." The attorney general's guidelines require accounting and reconciliation controls, such as advance approval by management, at least two government employees witnessing payment, a receipt from the informant and reconciliation of the amounts paid.

The inspector general said Marshals personnel told auditors the agency is working on a new way to pay informants. In its written response, the Marshals Service said it is addressing the payment process "with a third party" and will update its policies once the new process is final.

The audit also found that ATF, the DEA and the Marshals Service lack complete policies for assessing the risks when informants authorized to take part in otherwise illegal activity handle "dangerous commodities," such as firearms. Without such policies, the report says, those agencies "have not minimized the risks associated with" that activity, "such as the government's active contribution to furthering criminal enterprises." ATF and the FBI do not train staff on policies that bar interfering with investigations of informants, and the Marshals Service "does not have sufficient training in general," according to the report.

Rules Written for a Different Era

The inspector general said the department's core informant guidance has not been updated to reflect recent shifts in law enforcement, including the effects of recent Executive Orders, the designation of cartels and other organizations as foreign terrorist organizations, the designation of fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, and the prevalence of electronic payments.

The audit also found the department has not been fully consistent between the separate attorney general's guidelines for FBI sources and those for other agencies' informants, "which leads to varying levels of oversight." It flagged that some looser categories of sources used by the DEA and the Marshals are not held to the full requirements that apply to informants.

According to the report, an official in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General told auditors it "would be prudent" to convene a working group of the law enforcement agencies to update the guidance.

What the Agencies Said

The FBI concurred and said its updated policy language should be in place in early 2027, according to its response in the report. The DEA concurred and said it has initiated edits to its policy. The Marshals Service concurred and said it is working with a global wire transfer company to finalize a new payment system for informants, and that it intends to strengthen training requirements. The report lists five recommendations, one each to the deputy attorney general's office, ATF, the DEA, the FBI and the Marshals Service.

The inspector general's office has examined informant use before, including a 2019 audit of the FBI's process for validating its confidential human sources and a December 2024 review of the FBI's handling of its sources in the lead-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, electoral certification, according to a timeline in the report.

Sources: U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, "Audit of the Department of Justice Components' Confidential Informant Policies," Report 27-003 (October 2026), report page: https://oig.justice.gov/reports/audit-department-justice-components-confidential-informant-policies ; full report (PDF): https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/27-003.pdf ; DOJ OIG press release (Oct. 28, 2026): https://oig.justice.gov/news/doj-oig-releases-report-audit-doj-components-confidential-informant-policies