On January 29, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division announced its first reward under the Division’s new whistleblower program, awarding $1 million to a whistleblower whose report helped uncover a bid‑rigging and fraud scheme involving EBLOCK Corporation, an online platform for buying and selling wholesale vehicles. The award represents nearly 30 percent of the $3.28 million criminal fine EBLOCK agreed to pay as part of a deferred prosecution agreement.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General Omeed A. Assefi underscored the importance of this new program, stating: “Whistleblowers serve as the Justice System’s greatest disinfectant against criminal antitrust conspiracies.”
Launched in July 2025, the antitrust whistleblower program allows qualifying whistleblowers to receive a portion of criminal fines collected if their information materially contributes to a successful prosecution. As discussed in our prior article, the key eligibility criteria include:
The program is funded through a statute permitting the U.S. Postal Service to distribute a portion of collected fines. The Postal Service need only have a limited nexus to the conduct, which can be established in various ways (as in this case, where mail was used to transmit scheme‑related...
Consumer products companies are increasingly facing litigation that blends traditional false advertising claims with emerging privacy-tracking and website accessibility theories. In this one-hour C...