Enforcement Action Update: DOJ Publishes Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy

On January 17, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) released a revised version of its Corporate Enforcement Policy.  Assistant AG Kenneth Polite elaborated on the policy during remarks the same day at Georgetown University. The policy, renamed “Criminal Division Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy,” promotes the self-disclosure of companies with a “presumption that the company will receive a declination absent aggravating circumstances involving the seriousness of the offense or the nature of the offender.” 

To qualify for the declination, companies must demonstrate that it has met three factors:  

• Voluntary self-disclosure was made immediately upon the company becoming aware of the allegation of misconduct.
• At the time of the misconduct and the disclosure, the company had an effective compliance program and system of internal accounting controls that enabled the identification of the misconduct and led to the company’s voluntary self-disclosure.
• The company provided extraordinary cooperation with the DOJ’s investigation and undertook extraordinary remediation.

The Criminal Division indicates it will also accord, or recommend to a sentencing court, at least 50% and up to a 75% reduction off of the low end of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines fine range for companies that voluntarily self-disclosed, fully cooperated, and timely and appropriately remediated.  

A copy of the revised policy is available here. 

Assistant AG Kenneth Polite’s remarks are available here.  

For more information regarding DOJ enforcement, please see the Government Prosecutions section of the Enforcement Actions Database.