United States Attorney Martin Estrada Announces Implementation of New Whistleblower Pilot Program to Facilitate Increased Prosecutions of High-Level Wrongdoers

LOS ANGELES – United States Attorney Martin Estrada today announced that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California (USAO-CDCA) has implemented a new Voluntary Self-Disclosure, Whistleblower Pilot Program encouraging individuals to disclose criminal conduct undertaken by or through companies, exchanges, and other institutions.

The program, which is effective immediately, is designed to prompt individuals to come forward about previously unknown fraud, bribery, and other misconduct.  It does so by setting forth conditions under which the voluntary self-disclosure (VSD) of misconduct to the USAO-CDCA, coupled with the agreement to fully cooperate in the investigation of others involved, may make the disclosing individual eligible to avoid prosecution.

The program applies to circumstances where an individual voluntarily discloses to the USAO-CDCA information regarding criminal conduct undertaken by or through public or private companies, exchanges, financial institutions, investment advisers, or investment funds involving fraud or corporate control failures or affecting market integrity, or criminal conduct involving state or local bribery or fraud relating to federal, state, or local funds.  It is designed to facilitate the investigation of misconduct that is not already known to the USAO-CDCA and target those equally or more culpable in the misconduct, and only offers benefits to those who did not play a leading role in the misconduct, and who are not corporate CEOs or those in similar positions of control or federal, state, or local officials. 

This Pilot Program provides transparency regarding the circumstances in which USAO-CDCA prosecutors will offer deferred or non-prosecution agreements (DPAs or NPAs) to incentivize individuals (and their counsel) to provide original and actionable information.  Receiving such information will help us investigate and prosecute criminal conduct that might otherwise go undetected or be impossible to prove, and will, in turn, further encourage companies to create compliance programs that help prevent, detect, and remediate misconduct and to report misconduct when it occurs.

Under the VSD pilot program, the USAO-CDCA will enter into a DPA or NPA in exchange for the individual’s cooperation where the following conditions are met:

• The misconduct has not previously been made public and is not already known to our Office or to any component of the Department of Justice;
• The individual voluntarily discloses the criminal conduct to our Office and not in response to a government inquiry, and prior to imminent threat of disclosure or government investigation;
• The individual is able to provide substantial assistance in the investigation and prosecution of at least one equally or more culpable persons, did not play a leading role in the disclosed conduct, and is prepared to cooperate fully with this Office in its investigation and prosecution of the disclosed conduct, including by providing testimony if requested;
• The individual truthfully and completely discloses all criminal conduct in which the individual has participated and of which the individual is aware;
• The individual is not a federal, state, or local elected or appointed and confirmed official; not an official or agent of a federal investigative or federal law enforcement agency; or is not the CEO or equivalent, or a person who otherwise exercises primary control – regardless of title – over the operations of a public or private company; and
• The individual has not engaged in any criminal conduct that involves: the use of force or violence, any sex offense involving fraud, force, or coercion, or a minor, any offense involving terrorism or implicating national security or foreign affairs and does not have a previous felony conviction or a conviction of any kind for conduct involving fraud or dishonesty.

In instances in which an individual discloses such information, but does not meet

the above requirements, prosecutors may consider exercising – with supervisory approval – discretion to extend a DPA or NPA.

To self-disclose pursuant to this policy, please email: USACAC.VDP@usdoj.gov.