The Justice Department is planning to test a DOJ-run whistleblower rewards program to encourage more reporting of “significant corporate or financial misconduct,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco on Thursday announced Thursday at the American Bar Association’s 39th National Institute on White Collar Crime.
“Used proactively, this program will fill gaps. It will create new incentives for individuals to report misconduct to the department. And it will drive companies to invest further in their own internal compliance and reporting systems,” she said.
The department is on a “90-day sprint” to work out the details of the proposed test, Monaco said, with a formal start date to come later this year.
Under the program, individuals may be entitled to financial compensation for reporting suspected corporate misconduct. In addition, according to Monaco, the Justice Department will pursue tough penalties for repeat offenders.
“The premise is simple: if an individual helps DOJ discover significant corporate or financial misconduct — otherwise unknown to us — then the individual could qualify to receive a portion of the resulting forfeiture,” she said.
The deputy attorney general said that the department is particularly interested in hearing about criminal abuses of the US financial system, foreign corruption cases outside the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission and domestic corruption cases, “especially involving illegal corporate payments to government officials.”
The program is aimed at adding to the current whistleblower programs operated by the SEC, Commodities Futures Trading Commission and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the National Law Review reported.
“These programs have proved hugely successful, at least from the government’s perspective — in 2023 the SEC whistleblower program received more than 18,000 tips and paid out $600 million in rewards to whistleblowers — but they are limited to misconduct that falls within each of the agencies’ jurisdiction,” Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft attorney Jeffrey D. Clark wrote in the publication.
The proposed rewards program will be broader, he noted.
