In 2024, the Department of Justice launched a three-year Corporate Whistleblower Award Pilot Program (the “Pilot Program”), designed to incentivize and reward certain individuals who report corporate wrongdoing.  The Pilot Program seeks information pertaining to the following subject matters:

  • Violations by financial institutions (or their insiders/agents) for schemes involving money laundering, AML compliance violations, fraud statutes, and non-compliance with or fraud against regulators.
  • Violations related to foreign corruption and bribery, including violations of the FCPA, FEPA, and AML statutes.
  • Violations related to the payment of bribes or kickbacks to domestic public officials.
  • Violations related to:
    • Federal health care offenses related to private health care benefit programs;
    • Fraud against patients, investors, and other non-governmental entities in the health care industry; and
    • Other federal violations related to health care but not covered by the federal FCA.

To be eligible for an award under the Pilot Program, a successful whistleblower individual must, alone or jointly with other individuals, must do the following: (1) voluntarily provide the Department, in writing, with (2) original information (3) pursuant to certain conditions and procedures, where (4) the information provided leads to a civil or criminal forfeiture exceeding $1 million in net proceeds.

This means that a whistleblower must provide the information before they receive a request for information (the “voluntary” requirement), and that information must be the result of either independent knowledge—facts not known to the general public—or independent analysis—the individual’s own evaluation of publicly available information that yields information not generally known or available to the public (the “original information” requirement).

Where the DOJ does successfully collect a forfeiture judgment based on information received from a whistleblower, the whistleblower may be entitled to an award.  Unlike the SEC, CFTC, and FinCEN whistleblower programs, an award under the Pilot Program is at the discretion of the DOJ and not guaranteed. The Pilot Program also imposes caps on whistleblower awards as follows: up to 30% of the first $100 million in net proceeds forfeited and up to 5% of net proceeds forfeited between $100 million and $500 million.  If net proceeds forfeited exceed $500 million, there is no further award.   

In determining the amount of an award, if one is issued, the DOJ will consider factors including, inter alia, the significance of the information; the assistance provided by the whistleblower; the timeliness or delay in reporting; unique hardships faced by the whistleblower as a result of the reporting; participation in internal compliance systems; and culpability in the reported conduct.

A whistleblower is not eligible for an award under the Pilot Program if they would be eligible for an award through another whistleblower or qui tam program if they reported the same scheme there instead of the Pilot Program.  This is because the Pilot Program is designed to target only that conduct which would otherwise fall through the gaps of the existing programs.  

The Pilot Program is not retrospective, and only information provided to the DOJ after the August 1, 2024, program start date will be eligible for any award.

For information on how to submit information to the Department of Justice, contact Lundin PLLC Senior Attorney Alexandra Douglas.