Trump DOJ drops Abbott baby-formula criminal probe for civil deal

In June 2026, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump Justice Department had closed a multi-year criminal investigation into Abbott Laboratories over its Sturgis, Michigan infant-formula plant, opting instead for a civil settlement. In early 2022, FDA inspectors found the potentially deadly bacterium cronobacter sakazakii at the plant — including on equipment close to infant-formula containers — alongside standing water, inadequate hand-washing, and repeated prior detections of the bacteria; a former FDA official testified the facility was "out of control." Four infants who consumed formula produced at the plant were sickened by cronobacter and two died, though Abbott disputes that its formula caused the illnesses and notes that no distributed, unopened product tested positive. Some career prosecutors and supervisors believed they had evidence to bring a misdemeanor charge under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and a separate count for misleading the government, and were considering charging at least one individual. Senior DOJ officials instead closed the criminal probe and resolved the matter through a civil lawsuit — joined by 31 states and alleging a "culture of concealment" — focused on Abbott's sale of formula through federally funded child-nutrition programs. The settlement terms were not disclosed. The outcome aligned with Trump's May 2025 executive order directing prosecutors to minimize criminal sanctions where civil penalties could be used. Abbott's defense team included Mark Filip, a Kirkland & Ellis partner and former deputy attorney general, who had separately urged incoming DOJ officials to overhaul the consumer-protection office that ran the investigation and to remove its authority to bring criminal cases.