The US Justice Department is preparing to roll out a new program to incentivise whistleblowers, a move that has both corporate legal teams and whistleblower lawyers hustling to adapt. Even before full policy details are known, this program is poised to produce a wave of corporate crime tips from insiders.
The department’s leaders have recently initiated a 90-day process to determine how it will officially start compensating those who present leads. This revelation has triggered an immediate response from lawyers working both with whistleblowers and the companies in question. These legal practitioners are actively strategizing around potential policy concerns about the pilot program, anticipating which clients may be eligible for rewards, and alerting companies to the necessity of bolstering their compliance procedures.
The urgency is driven by the expectation that tips may start coming in even before the program’s official launch later this year. The companies fear facing severe penalties as a result of these tips and are considering pre-emptively self-disclosing before whistleblowers come forward. As such, this initiative from the Justice Department might have an immediate impact on corporate behavior and legal strategies in anticipation of a heightened wave of whistleblowing.
Full details and the results of the program’s draft will be seen in due course. However, the instant response it triggered amongst lawyers and corporations indicates its potential to significantly affect the corporate legal landscape.
For more detailed information, go to the original report by Bloomberg Law.