On January 29, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division announced the first payment made under its Whistleblower Rewards Program. The whistleblower received a reward of $1 million for providing information that led to a company agreeing to pay a $3.28 million criminal fine to resolve antitrust and fraud charges.

The Whistleblower Rewards program, which was announced in July 2025, is a partnership between the United States Postal Service (USPS) and the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG). The program was designed to incentivize individuals to report antitrust crimes in exchange for monetary rewards, up to 30 percent of recovered criminal fines if the conditions outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding between the DOJ, USPS, and USPS OIG are satisfied. In particular, individuals must voluntarily provide original, credible, high-value information about illegal agreements to collude that ultimately results in prosecution of an eligible crime that affects the USPS.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed Assefi said recently that the Antitrust Division has seen a “frenzy” of individuals come forward with information, and that the Division has been “qualifying whistleblowers for the last six months.”¹With the announcement of this $1 million reward, Acting Assistant Attorney General Assefi said that he expects even more applications to the Whistleblower Rewards Program and hinted that additional announcement of rewards are coming in the next couple of...

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