DOJ on sprint toward pilot whistleblower reward program

In remarks delivered at an industry event Thursday, Monaco said whistleblower programs at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission don’t address the full range of corporate and financial misconduct that the DOJ prosecutes.

Both programs are “limited in scope” to agency jurisdiction under the Dodd-Frank Act, Monaco said, while the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act only cover fraud against the government.

“These programs have proven indispensable—but they resemble a patchwork quilt that doesn’t cover the whole bed,” she said.

Monaco noted the DOJ will institute basic guardrails as it ramps up toward an undisclosed launch date of its pilot program later this year. This will include whistleblowers being awarded payments only after all victims have been properly compensated, submitting truthful information not already known to the government, not being involved in the misconduct themselves, and not double-dipping with other whistleblower programs.

She added the program will create new incentives for individuals to report misconduct and should “drive companies to invest further in their own internal compliance and reporting systems.”

Monaco emphasized the DOJ is interested in information regarding criminal abuses of the U.S. financial system; foreign corruption cases outside the SEC’s jurisdiction (e.g., Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations by non-issuers); violations of the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act; and domestic corruption (e.g., bribes to government officials).

The whistleblower program coupled with the DOJ’s voluntary self-disclosure program are a two-pronged approach to fighting white-collar crime, which “reinforce each other and create a multiplier effect,” Monaco said.

“It helps us impose the most significant penalties on those who most deserve it,” she added. “And it helps us use our carrots to wield larger sticks.”