The U.S. Department of Justice is planning to encourage corporate crime whistleblowers by offering them the opportunity to financially benefit from exposing wrongdoing, according to recent reports. This proposal takes inspiration from the model currently used by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco is expected to be making the impending announcement, stating that the DOJ will provide incentives for individuals to unveil misconduct they were not involved in. This initiative was brought up by Marshall Miller, Monaco’s top deputy, at a legal conference. Miller mentioned the incentive as a continuation of previous attempts by Monaco to urge companies to rapidly and freely disclose any wrongdoing they come across.
The specifics and details of how Monaco will facilitate individuals who disclose corporate crime to share in the subsequent fines against their companies, are still uncertain. However, Miller likened this idea to the existing methodology at the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where individuals who draw attention to financial misconduct are already rewarded.
Concurrently, the U.S. Attorney for San Francisco, Ismail Ramsey, has announced plans to set up a program that mirrors a recently instated pilot in the Southern District of New York. The Manhattan-based program allows prosecutors to propose non-prosecution agreements to those involved in nonviolent crimes, granted the information disclosed is not public and results in the prosecution of others. The Northern District of California’s variation of this program will target intellectual property issues, offering benefits if particular conditions are met.
While the Department of Justice has a history of negotiating deals for culpable individuals to evade charges after reporting others for white-collar crime, this upcoming announcement from the Deputy Attorney General will only extend monetary rewards to individuals who played no part in the crime.