"Call Us Before We Call You": SDNY Announces Pilot Whistleblower Program

Highlights

• The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) has announced a new discretionary program (Program) presented as another "tool in [the SDNY's] toolkit" that could unearth cases of massive fraud and further boost the SDNY's prosecutions of white collar crime in 2024 by encouraging whistleblower self-reporting.
• Instead of a monetary reward, the Program offers Non-Prosecution Cooperation Agreements to qualifying whistleblowers. To be eligible, whistleblowers must voluntarily self-disclose their own criminal conduct before the federal government gets wind of it, then cooperate against individuals participating in certain nonviolent crimes.
• The Program reflects SDNY's enforcement priorities and focuses whistleblower attention on fraud involving investments, investment advisors and financial institutions, as well as market integrity, corporate controls, and state or local bribery or fraud involving public funding.