MOAR DOJ POLICY CHANGES ANNOUNCED BY [RR] THIS PAST THURSDAY
RR gave a speech on Thursday re: White Collar crime and better inter-agency cooperation.
sauce:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/deputy-attorney-general-rod-j-rosenstein-delivers-remarks-american-conference-institute-0
<HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SPEECH
FOCUS ON INDIVIDUAL WRONGDOERS
"Last year, we initiated a review of our Department’s policy concerning individual accountability in corporate cases, to consider suggestions by our own employees and outside stakeholders about opportunities for improvements that will promote efficient enforcement and reduce fraud. "
"Under our revised policy, pursuing individuals responsible for wrongdoing will be a top priority in every corporate investigation."
SEE PIC
CRIMINAL CASES VS CIVIL CASES
CRIMINAL.."ALL OR NOTHING" APPROACH
A CORPORATE RESOLUTION SHOULD NOT PROTECT INDIVIDUALS FROM CRIMINAL LIABILITY
"Our revised policy also makes clear that any company seeking cooperation credit in criminal cases must identify every individual who was substantially involved in or responsible for the criminal conduct. "
>There were concerns about the inefficiency of requiring companies to identify every employee involved…
In fact, we learned that the policy was not strictly enforced in some cases because it would have impeded resolutions and wasted resources. Our policies need to work in the real world of limited investigative resources.
CREDIT FOR COOPERATION
"If we find that a company is not operating in good faith to identify individuals who were substantially involved in or responsible for wrongdoing, we will not award any cooperation credit. "
CIVIL CASES ARE DIFFERENT - 'ALL OR NOTHING' APPROACH DOESN'T WORK
"The primary goal of affirmative civil enforcement cases is to recover money, and we have a responsibility to use the resources entrusted to us efficiently. Based on the experience of our civil lawyers over the past three years, the “all or nothing” approach to cooperation introduced a few years ago was counterproductive in civil cases. "
<SOLUTION: "we are revising the policy to restore some of the discretion that civil attorneys traditionally exercised – with supervisory review."
"If a corporation wants to earn maximum credit, it must identify every individual person who was substantially involved in or responsible for the misconduct. "
FALSE CLAIMS ACT CASES USED AS EXAMPLE (NOTE: THESE CASES ARE FILED SEALED)
>^^^^^^^^[RR] giving us a hint as to what the 61,000+ SEALED DOCUMENTS ARE?
"So our attorneys may reward cooperation that meaningfully assisted the government’s civil investigation, without the need to agree about every employee with potential individual liability. "
Companies caught hiding misconduct by senior leaders or failing to act in good faith will not be eligible for any credit.
"COMMONSENSE REFORMS"
-Department attorneys are permitted to negotiate civil releases for individuals who do not warrant additional investigation in corporate civil settlement agreements, again with appropriate supervisory approval.
-And our attorneys once again are permitted to consider an individual’s ability to pay in deciding whether to pursue a civil judgment.
"These commonsense reforms restore to our attorneys some of the discretion they previously exercised in civil cases; the same discretion routinely exercised by private lawyers and clients and by government agencies responsible for using their resources most efficiently to achieve their enforcement mission. "
^^^^^^^RATS RUNNING?
DOJ POLICIES THAT WERE CHANGED
https://www.justice.gov/jm/jm-1-12000-coordination-parallel-criminal-civil-regulatory-and-administrative-proceedings?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery#1-12.000
https://www.justice.gov/jm/jm-4-3000-compromising-and-closing?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery#4-3.100
https://www.justice.gov/jm/jm-9-28000-principles-federal-prosecution-business-organizations?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery#9-28.210