By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law
Deputy U.S. Attorney General (DAG), Lisa Monaco, announced during her keynote speech at the American Bar Association’s 39th National Institute on White Collar Crime that the Department of Justice would be implementing a new whistleblower rewards program. According to Ms. Monaco, this new rewards program is inspired by traditional law enforcement incentives, along with “Wanted” posters, just like in our history of the “wild-west.”
DAG Monaco explained that any individual who aids the DOJ in discovering “significant corporate or financial misconduct” could be qualified to receive a portion of the penalty as a reward. This new incentive program is hopefully a step in the right direction to encourage companies to voluntarily disclose any misconduct to which they are privy. It would also provide rewards for whisteleblowers who may not have possession of enough evidence to actually prove in court that there was a false claim.
Breakdown of the DOJ “Wanted Program” for Whistleblower Rewards.
DAG Monaco stated that her desire for the program was to inspire companies to willingly disclose significant misconduct with the incentive of being rewarded. DOJ also hopes that the program will be applied to existing tools such as sentencing guidelines and enforcement programs and which may apply to new and disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, which has become significant in the corporate world.
Ms. Monaco explained that the information given must be of that of which the DOJ was previously unaware, and by doing so an individual could qualify to receive a portion of the resulting forfeiture as a reward for their whistleblowing. This pilot program launched in June 2024, and is to be fully implemented later in 2024.
The parameters under which DOJ will offer such reward payments are the following:
1. They will be distributed only after all victims have been properly compensated.
2. They will be given only to whistleblowers who submit truthful information not already known to the government.
3. They will be rewarded only to whistleblowers not actually involved in commission of the crime.
4. Payments will be made only in the case where there is no existing financial disclosure incentive (e.g., in False Claims Act qui tam actions or via other federal whistleblower programs).
Although the DOJ is always willing to accept tips about any violations, it will be focusing its attention on obtaining knowledge about“criminal abuses of the U.S. Financial System, foreign corruption cases outside of the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations, and finally violations of the recently enacted Foreign Extortion Prevention Act.”
The New Program’s Potential Impact.
The new whistleblower program has been created to fill gaps existing in current federal whistleblower programs, and to increase the public’s awareness of artificial intelligence that has the potential to make white-collar crimes significantly more serious. With such new programs and protocols in place, it is hoped that it will push companies and their counsel to reassess their opinions on investigations into potential misconduct and their existing disclosure protocols.
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Sources Consulted:
Sidley Austin. (March 13, 2024). Whistleblowers Wanted: U.S. DOJ Announces New Whistleblower Rewards Program. Sidley. https://www.sidley.com/en/insights/newsupdates/2024/03/whistleblowers-wanted-us-doj-announces-new-whistleblower-rewards-program
Chocron, C., Walsh, C. (March 11, 2024). Key takeaways from the american bar association’s 39th annual national institute on white collar crime. Taft Law. https://www.taftlaw.com/news-events/law-bulletins/key-takeaways-from-the-american-bar-associations-39th-annual-national-institute-on-white-collar-crime/
About the Author: George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law. He is the President and Managing Partner of The Health Law Firm, which has a national practice.
The Health Law Firm can be visited at: www.TheHealthLawFirm.com. Or contact us at: The Health Law Firm, 1101 Douglas Avenue, Suite 1000, Altamonte Springs, FL 32714, Phone: (407) 331-6620 or Toll-Free: (888) 331-6620.
“The Health Law Firm” is a registered fictitious business name of and a registered service mark of The Health Law Firm, P.A., a Florida professional service corporation, since 1999. Copyright © 2024 George F. Indest III, The Health Law Firm. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any way in any medium without the written permission of the copyright owner. The author of this work reserves the right to have his name associated with any use or publication of this work or any part of it.
