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May 19, 2026 / 3:48 PM EDT

/ CBS News

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The Trump administration's newly-announced $1.776 billion fund to compensate people who claim that the government weaponized the legal system against them has attorneys and communications professionals scrambling to position their clients for a handout, CBS News has learned.Legal groups and public relations offices in Washington, D.C., and New York City have been abuzz ever since the Justice Department's announcement on Monday of the extraordinary "anti-weaponization fund." It was rolled out as part of the Justice Department's settlement of a $10 billion lawsuit President Trump had filed earlier this year against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns."Anyone targeted by the Department of Justice will want to submit, which is many of our clients," said Juda Engelmayer, a publicist who has represented Sean "Diddy" Combs, convicted fraudster Anna Delvey and Brady Knowlton — one of the more than 1,500 Capitol riot defendants pardoned by Mr. Trump upon his return to the White House.Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously worked as a criminal defense lawyer for Mr. Trump, signed a memo this week that said the Treasury Department will move the money into the fund within 60 days. The memo said that a commission of five members appointed by the attorney general will oversee the fund, which will last until December 2028. There is a loose criteria for compensation claims outlined in the settlement agreement, which said the commission would consider the "totality of the circumstances" for applicants, such as legal and prison costs. A Trump administration official told CBS News that, as the commission is assembled, "they will determine specifics and be transparent."Karin Sweigart, a lawyer who previously represented Mr. Trump in a defamation lawsuit, told CBS News that conversations about submitting claims are "percolating." Dan Backer, another Republican lawyer, said he is "already fielding inquiries" about the fund. "We're going to be helping a lot of people to be made whole after the Biden administration's unconscionable treatment of American citizens," Backer told CBS News. "President Trump has done a great thing here."