SOP in investigations in the IG, if you develop good evidence of criminal violations, you get an AUSA in tow and start working a criminal case with them maybe pulling in some agents from useful agencies, like FBI or IRS if applicable or logical (Special Agents in OIG investigative offices are 1811 criminal investigators, just like FBI, IRS CID etc.). So if you find a crime, you start working it right away for a lot of reasons, statute of limitations, preservation of evidence, the availability of witnesses etc. I’ve never seen an IG investigative office wait until an entire report is pulled together and then have “criminal referrals” made. DOJ OIG used to work cases with us all the time, they didn’t refer them anywhere else if it had to do with their people. Waiting for a report and then making referrals (to where?) smacks of political theater straight up and doesn’t make good sense from a criminal investigation standpoint.
Sigh. Sadly, I think you are correct. And that theater is meant to keep us distracted and hopeful while the evidence is destroyed.
Not sure we can vote ourselves out of the mess we are in.