The U.S. Department of Justice has directed its National Fraud Enforcement Division to develop policies and programs that encourage whistleblowers to provide credible information about fraud. In an October 1 memorandum, Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald said the planned measures should incentivize disclosures and offer public transparency where possible. The directive does not set out a completed whistleblower program.

The memorandum also gives the division’s Corporate Enforcement Section primary responsibility for evaluating companies’ compliance with criminal resolutions, including compliance-program commitments and reporting obligations. It names health care, government, tax and trade fraud as enforcement priorities, and instructs prosecutors to give substantial weight to ten listed factors when deciding corporate charges and resolutions.

Why it matters

  • The whistleblower policies are still to be designed, so their eventual terms are not specified in the directive.
  • A designated section will oversee corporate compliance with criminal resolutions across the Fraud Division.