Tipsters Could Receive Payment for Reporting Criminal Misconduct on Corporations
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a pilot program to launch later this year that would see non-culpable whistleblowers receive monetary payments in exchange for information of corporate malfeasance. The program was revealed recently by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco at a legal conference. While there are already avenues for whistleblowers to report to other federal agencies already in place, Monaco stated that the existing programs “are limited in scope,” and “don’t address the full range of corporate and financial misconduct that the department prosecutes.” The program will appear to concentrate on certain areas of the law that could be broken, with the DOJ focusing on violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) which criminalizes foreign officials who accept bribes or those who pay bribes to assist in obtaining or retaining foreign business.
Lawyers Already Lining Up Clients for Programs Implementation
Shortly after the announcement, which is being built over the next 90 days with the aim to take effect later this year, attorneys are already preparing for its implementation, both those who represent potential whistleblowers and those who represent companies. Still, some are worried that the announcement alone will induce a flurry of potential whistleblowers to come forward, even before the outlines of the program are announced, implemented, and understood by clients and lawyers alike. Jacklyn DeMar, president of whistleblower nonprofit, The Anti-Fraud Coalition said “the point is for people to come forward timely and report fraud. You would hope that DOJ would recognize that” and “wouldn’t then punish whistleblowers from coming forward early.” It remains unclear what procedural safeguards, or even what level of compensation there will be for whistleblowers or where the money will ultimately derive from. Typically, when the government provides financial incentives for exposing crime, people take advantage. It is anticipated that this will result in more corporate prosecutions, or at a minimum the prosecution of more white-collar crime and additional civil disgorgement actions.
