Individual Self Disclosure Pilot Announced

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division announced the outlines of a voluntary self-disclosure progam in a statement Monday 22 April

"Our experience shows that individuals who are involved in criminal conduct and are willing to accept responsibility and cooperate with us are critical sources of information.

"To provide clear incentives and encourage individuals to come forward, earlier this week I announced a new Criminal Division pilot program on voluntary self-disclosures for individuals.

Under this pilot program, individuals with criminal exposure—not including CEOs, CFOs, high-level foreign officials, domestic officials at any level, or individuals who organized or led the criminal scheme—who come forward and report misconduct that was otherwise unknown to the department will be eligible to receive a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) if they meet certain criteria.

Under the new program, culpable individuals will receive an NPA if they

1. voluntarily,
2.  truthfully, and
3. completely self-disclose original information regarding misconduct that was unknown to the department in certain high-priority enforcement areas,
4. fully cooperate and are able to provide substantial assistance against those equally or more culpable, and
5. forfeit any ill-gotten gains and compensate victims.

The pilot program seeks disclosures in certain core enforcement areas for the Criminal Division, and in particular for our Fraud Section, our Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, and our Public Integrity Section. Specifically, the program is open to individuals who provide disclosures involving the following:

• Schemes involving financial institutions—including money laundering and criminal compliance-related schemes;
• Schemes related to the integrity of financial markets involving financial institutions, investment advisors or funds, or public or large private companies;
• Foreign corruption schemes, including violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Foreign Extortion Prevention Act, and associated money laundering;
• Health care fraud and kickback schemes;
• Federal contract fraud schemes; and
• Domestic corruption schemes involving bribes or kickbacks paid by or through public or private companies.

"In addition, as in our Corporate Enforcement Policy, the individual’s self-disclosure must be to the Criminal Division, and it must be voluntary. This means the disclosure must happen in the absence of any government investigation, before the department or any federal law enforcement, regulatory, or civil enforcement agency makes a request related to the subject matter of the disclosure, and before the threat of imminent disclosure to the government or the public. Also, the individual must not have a preexisting obligation to report the information to the department or any federal law enforcement, regulatory, or civil enforcement agency pursuant to a plea agreement, NPA, or similar agreement

"As with any other program, there are some disqualifications. NPAs will not be available under the program for individuals who have engaged in certain types of criminal conduct or who have prior felony convictions or any conviction involving fraud or dishonesty. And again, this program is also not available for CEOs, CFOs, high-level foreign officials, domestic officials at any level, or individuals who organized or led the criminal scheme.

We have a web page dedicated to this pilot program that tells you how it works.

"This individual voluntary self-disclosure pilot program will reinforce our existing corporate voluntary self-disclosure program and our developing whistleblower program, helping to expose criminal schemes.

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