Recently, Deputy AG Lisa Monaco announced that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is launching a pilot program that would financially reward whistleblowers who report significant corporate misconduct.

Filling in the gaps

Monaco’s announcement was a huge step forward for corporate misconduct enforcement as, up to now, the whistleblower landscape, while very successful, has contained a patchwork of programs that only cover misconduct within each agencies’ jurisdiction. For instance, the SEC and CFTC whistleblower programs, despite having paid out hundreds of millions of dollars of awards to whistleblowers, still leave gaps in areas outside of the purview of those agencies. The new pilot program steps in at an important time and fills gaps left by previous programs.

Specifics of the program

The new program in effect serves as a generalized, catch-all call for whistleblowers where individuals who help the DOJ uncover significant corporate or financial misconduct, not previously known to it, could be eligible for a reward if their information leads to a successful enforcement. The DOJ is particularly interested in information about criminal abuses of the U.S. financial system, foreign corruption cases outside the jurisdiction of the SEC, including FCPA violations by non-issuers, violations of the recently enacted Foreign Extortion Prevention Act, and domestic corruption cases, especially involving illegal corporate payments to government officials. In establishing basic guardrails for the program, the DOJ would offer payments:

• Only after all victims have been properly compensated
• Only to those who submit truthful information not already known to the government
• Only to those not involved in the criminal activity itself
• And only in cases where there isn’t an existing financial disclosure incentive — including qui tam or another federal whistleblower program.

The role of whistleblowers

Whistleblowers play a critical role in exposing and addressing corruption. By stepping forward, whistleblowers help ensure that bad actors are disincentivized from continuing to commit crimes that are a drain on taxpayer money. This in turn helps ensure that the programs Americans come to rely on can continue to be funded adequately.

About Us

Baron & Budd’s whistleblower representation team has more than 40 years of experience representing dozens of clients in government fraud cases. They have returned over $6.0 billion to federal and state agencies with whistleblower recovery shares as high as 50%.