On August 1, 2024, the Department of Justice issued guidance outlining its Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program, which offers financial incentives to whistleblowers who bring original and truthful information regarding corporate criminal conduct to the attention of the Department. This pilot program, which was previewed in March and is described in the Department’s Program Guidance, resembles other enforcement agencies’ whistleblower rewards programs, such as that of the Securities Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.
The Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery unit will administer the three-year pilot program and will have discretion to issue awards.
In a speech on August 1, 2024, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced that this program was designed to “fill the gaps” to cover the full range of “corporate and financial misconduct” that the DOJ targets. According to Monaco, the DOJ’s whistleblower program pairs hand-in-hand with the corporate self-disclosure program, saying “There’s a synergy to these disclosure programs: together, they create a multiplier effect that encourages both companies and individuals to tell us what they know – and to tell us as soon as they know it.”
Under the new pilot program, individuals who provide information related to previously unknown misconduct that leads to prosecution could receive a portion of the civil or criminal forfeiture. Consistent with what was previously reported in March, a whistleblower is not eligible for a monetary award unless the reported information is original and true and a successful prosecution results in a forfeiture award exceeding $1 million. Moreover, the information must relate corporate misconduct in one of the following areas: (i) certain crimes involving financial institutions, (ii) foreign corruption, (iii) domestic corruption, or (iv) health care fraud schemes involving private insurance plans.
This program furthers the DOJ’s long running effort to encourage early self-disclosure by corporate entities and reaffirms the Department’s continued commitment to target corporate criminal conduct.
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