The new program will reward an individual who “helps DOJ discovery significant corporate or financial misconduct—otherwise unknown to [DOJ]” by allowing them to qualify to receive a portion of the forfeiture award resulting from an enforcement action.
This new program will focus on ;
- Criminal abuses of the U.S. financial system;
- Foreign corruption cases outside the jurisdiction of the SEC, including FCPA violations by non-issuers and violations of the recently enacted Foreign Extortion Prevention Act; and
- Domestic corruption cases, especially involving illegal corporate payments to government officials.
Individuals who bring forward original information first about such conduct could qualify to receive a portion of the resulting forfeiture:
- After all victims have been properly compensated;
- If submit truthful information not already known to the government;
- If the whistleblower is not involved in the criminal activity itself;
- And wherever there isn’t an existing financial disclosure incentive — including qui tam or another federal whistleblower program.
Jeffrey Newman is a whistleblower lawyer whose firm represents whistleblowers in healthcare fraud under the False Claims Act (FCA) also whistleblower claims brought under the SEC whistleblower program for violations of securities regulations including insider trading cases. He also handles cases involving evasion of US sanctions against China, Iran and Russia and other sanctioned entities and he can be reached at Jeff@JeffNewmanLaw.com or at 617-823-3217
