Key Takeaways

• The Pilot Program seeks to incentivize individuals to report allegations of misconduct to DOJ’s Criminal Division. But individuals must satisfy stringent requirements to qualify for a financial award, including reporting a covered offense, disclosing “original” and “complete” information not previously known to DOJ, and full cooperation.
• DOJ simultaneously announced an amendment to the Criminal Division’s Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy (the VSD), which now provides a company that voluntarily self-reports to DOJ within 120 days of receiving a whistleblower report eligibility for a presumption of a declination from DOJ, even if the whistleblower already made a report to DOJ, assuming the company satisfies all other voluntary self-disclosure requirements.

• The Pilot Program and amendment to the VSD add to the complex landscape of corporate self-reporting and apply pressure on companies to report allegations of wrongdoing. A company must assess the risk that an employee will use the Pilot Program to report conduct to DOJ before the company is able to complete an investigation or otherwise be in a position to report it to DOJ.

• Companies should evaluate their own whistleblower programs to ensure that those programs are up to date, are well known to employees, and properly incentivize internal reporting. Companies also should ensure that their policies and procedures do not improperly interfere with a whistleblower’s ability to...

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