By Steve Neavling
The Justice Department, under a Biden administration initiative set to be revealed within weeks, will offer whistleblowers a share of penalties and fees, potentially totaling millions, for tips leading to successful prosecutions, The Washington Post reports.
It’s part of a plan to recruit more whistleblowers to crack down on white-collar crime.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco says the initiative is like the rewards that law enforcement once offered in “the days of ‘Wanted’ posters across the Old West.”
As a result of the plan, authorities believe asset forfeitures could reach millions or even billions of dollars a year.
The DOJ already pays whistleblowers under the False Claims Act, but that only includes civil cases involving abuse of the U.S. government’s federal contracting system.
The program is modeled after similar ones in the Security and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Under those, whistleblowers are eligible to collect payments ranging from 10% to 30% of the penalties and fees assessed in the case.
“The biggest untold story in whistleblowing are these new award laws and the revolution they are causing,” said attorney Stephen Kohn. “Whistleblowers are being compensated for turning in some of the largest corporations in the world.”
