A drop in white-collar crime prosecutions and corporate fines during the Trump administration has prompted a warning from a leading law firm.

New York-based Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz issued a memo to its clients noting the “significant” decrease in both the number of cases and the scale of penalties over the last two years.

The lawyers advised businesses not to relax their approach to laws and regulations, adding: “Our experience suggests that succumbing to such temptation would be a mistake.”

It comes after data from the US Department of Justice revealed white-collar prosecutions – including offences of fraud, antitrust violations and identity theft – hit a 20-year low earlier this year.

Prosecutions peaked in 2011, during Barack Obama’s first term in office, and have steadily declined since, according to Syracuse University’s TRAC reports.

Criminals who worked for Trump Show all 5 1 /5 Criminals who worked for Trump Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Cohen Former lawyer for Donald Trump was sentenced to three years in prison on counts involving evading income tax, false disclosure of the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels and another hush money charge Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Paul Manafort Former campaign manager for Trump Manafort was found guilty in February 2018 of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account. The crimes occurred prior to his appointment in Trump's campaign Getty Criminals who worked for Trump George Papadopoulos Former Trump campaign adviser Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in October 2017. He had lied about making contact with a professor who claimed that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. He was sentenced to 14 days in jail Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Flynn Former White House National Security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in December 2017. He had lied about conversations that he had with the Russian ambassador to the US during Trump's Presidential campaign. He was not given prison time due to his "significant assistance" to the Mueller investigation Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Rick Gates Deputy chairman of Trump's presidential campaign Gates pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in February 2018 AFP/Getty

“White-collar prosecutions since President Trump assumed office generally have been lower than in previous administrations,” researchers said.

Corporate fines from criminal prosecutions also plunged by more than 90 per cent, according to a study comparing the last year of the Obama administration and the first year under President Trump.

The “lighter touch” approach towards the banking industry is further demonstrated by a large drop in the number of cases pursued by the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to analysis by The New York Times.

“In such an environment, companies might be tempted to think that having an effective compliance programme is less urgent and less important than the past,” Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz told its clients on Wednesday.

“In fact, now is arguably the best time for corporations to continue investing in their compliance programmes to ensure they have in place an effective and comprehensive set of compliance policies, procedures and internal controls.”