DOJ Announces New Bounty Program For Whistleblowers

Yesterday, Deputy Attorney General Monaco announced a plan to develop and implement a DOJ whistleblower reward program. According to Monaco, DOJ intends to offer financial rewards to individuals who bring actionable information about corporate misconduct to DOJ. These incentive payments will be offered:

• "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."

Monaco describes the purpose of this program as follows: "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."