DAG Lisa Monaco Announces New Whistleblower Program at ABA White Collar Crime Conference

In her recent remarks at the 2024 ABA White Collar Crime Conference, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced a new whistleblower policy designed to “coax tipsters out of the woodwork,” just as she said law enforcement has done since “the days of ‘Wanted’ posters across the Old West.”

The DOJ’s new program, which is designed to fill the gaps in the existing patchwork of government whistleblower programs, will reward whistleblowers with a portion of any recovery so long as:

1. the whistleblower was not a part of the fraudulent conduct,
2. all victims of the fraud have been made whole prior to any whistleblower recovery,
3. the information provided by the whistleblower is truthful,
4. the information provided by the whistleblower was previously unknown to the government, and
5. the whistleblower is not otherwise eligible for recovery under any other government program

While DAG Monaco said the DOJ is interested in any tips about federal crimes, she also emphasized the importance of tips about criminal abuses of the U.S. financial system, corruption, both international and domestic, and frauds using disruptive technologies, like AI. And, on the topic of AI, DAG Monaco stressed the need for corporate compliance programs to evolve to address the risks posed by ever-changing technologies, like AI and others.

DAG Monaco also reinforced the importance of existing DOJ policies, like holding individuals accountable for corporate misconduct, imposing stiffer penalties on recidivists, encouraging voluntary self-disclosure, and rewarding corporations for good behavior, like clawing back compensation from responsible parties and disclosing misconduct discovered during M&A due diligence.

Notably, this announcement came on the heals of the DOJ’s annual FCA fiscal year report. The February 22, 2024, FCA report highlighted DOJ’s accomplishment, with its record number of 543 payments and settlements that exceeded $2.69 billion (DOJ Press Release, February, 22, 2024). The DOJ also reported that 712 FCA qui tam or whistleblower actions were filed in fiscal 2023, the large majority in the health care sector, and the filing of 500 non qui tam FCA cases.

Now, the DOJ potentially has changed the enforcement landscape. It wants to extend the success of the FCA programs to its criminal sector enforcement strategies. DAG Monaco stressed that its message to whistleblowers is clear: DOJ “wants to hear” from them. DOJ has emphasized that to be rewarded, the whistleblowers must be “first in the door”, among other considerations. Whether this program will lead to more voluntary disclosures and investigations, or a bounty system with disputes over what constitutes a “public disclosure” or which whistleblower was the “first” to disclose, that could detract from enforcement efforts, remains to be seen. In any event, DOJ’s pilot program will likely become permanent within the year.

For DAG Monaco’s full remarks, click here. If you have any questions about the new program or any other information from this alert, please contact any member of Dykema’s Government Investigations and Corporate Compliance team or your Dykema relationship attorney.