Towards the end of last year, I raised the question of whether it was now an easy time for corporate crooks. The data showed that most fraudsters spend only two years in jail. So much for the Bush administration's crackdown on corporate crime.

Now we have further evidence of shifting enforcement priorities. According to the latest figures from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), found there has been a steep decline in efforts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Service, postal service and Internal Revenue Service in fighting white collar crime.

TRAC's conclusions were based on an analysis of 6.8 million Justice Department records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. So why is this the case? Is it because there has been a shift in priorities since 9/11? Maybe, but that doesn't explain the drop off in focus at the Postal Service and IRS. Is it because there are fewer swindlers, anti-trust violators and tax cheats. Again, that's hard to believe.

Significantly, the figures show that the biggest increase in enforcement has been with the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Clearly, fraud enforcement priorities are shifting. And that's alarming.