In recent weeks, a number of U.S. Attorneys’ Offices (USAOs) across the country have rolled out “Whistleblower Pilot Programs” offering the potential of non-prosecution agreements in exchange for voluntary self-disclosure of criminal conduct by participants in non-violent offenses. These “whistleblower” programs, announced within the same timeframe as the Department of Justice’s new Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program, can sow confusion among would-be-whistleblowers as well as attorneys and pose significant risks to corporate informants as these Pilot Programs differ greatly from other well-known corporate whistleblower programs, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Whistleblower Program.

While the USAO Pilot Programs recognize the importance of corporate whistleblowers and are a positive step away from prosecuting whistleblowers, they fail to incorporate the proven incentives that have made other whistleblower programs so successful. By failing to direct potential informants towards these other whistleblower programs, such as the SEC Whistleblower Program or AML and Sanctions Whistleblower Program, which pay monetary awards and afford whistleblowers anonymity as incentives for coming forward, the USAO programs may lead whistleblowers astray.

Whistleblowers thinking about making a disclosure to a USAO whistleblower program should thus consult with an experienced whistleblower attorney to determine the best path for making a disclosure.

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