US Justice Dept launches whistleblower programme aimed at corporate crime
THE US Justice Department on Thursday (Aug 1) debuted its first-ever whistleblower programme offering monetary awards to tipsters who report certain types of corporate misconduct, an effort designed to ratchet up the pressure on companies who face allegations of wrongdoing.
The programme, which officials previewed in March, is designed to fill gaps in existing US government whistleblower programmes and incentivise both people with knowledge of corporate wrongdoing and companies who might be implicated to inform the government.
“We’re doubling down on a proven strategy to ferret out criminal activity that might otherwise go unreported,” deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco told reporters.
Under the programme, which will run initially for three years, whistleblowers who report original information about certain corporate offences will, if a prosecution results in a forfeiture of assets, be eligible to receive a certain portion of that penalty.
Tipsters can receive up to 30 per cent of the first US$100 million in asserts forfeited and up to 5 per cent of those between US$100 and US$500 million.
It is the latest in a series of steps taken by the Justice Department during the Biden administration to pressure companies to voluntarily alert prosecutors about potential criminal activity in their ranks.
“The company’s leadership now has to grapple with the increased possibility that if they don’t self-disclose misconduct, an individual whistleblower might beat them to the punch,” Monaco said.
The programme is designed to capture conduct not already covered by existing whistleblower programmes run by civil regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, officials said.
Justice Department officials said they are especially interested in foreign corruption schemes outside the authority of the SEC, health care fraud against private insurers and certain financial crimes including defrauding regulatory agencies. REUTERS
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