Game-changing DOJ pilot whistleblower program panned by critics

The Department of Justice (DOJ) released the details of its long-awaited corporate whistleblower awards pilot program that will prioritize reporting in areas of corporate crime not currently covered by existing whistleblower programs.

According to guidance published Thursday, the new pilot program is modeled on successful whistleblower programs offered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), filling in whistleblower reporting gaps that those programs don’t cover.

In a speech delivered Thursday in Washington, D.C., principal assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri laid out the four areas in which the DOJ believes its whistleblower program will provide a new pathway for corporate insiders to report misconduct. Those areas are foreign corruption, crimes involving financial institutions, U.S.-based corruption, and fraud involving private insurers not covered by qui tam recovery under the False Claims Act, she said.