U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco this morning announced new corporate crime policies at the ABA National Institute on White Collar Crime. The Department of Justice is expanding its 2021 Corporate Criminal Enforcement Policies beyond Main Justice to all 94 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, increasing predictability in enforcement and outcomes.

Particularly striking is the DAG’s announcement that the policy will be expanded also to DOJ’s National Security Division. She asserts the need to expand the policy to NSD because of the emerging intersection of corporate crime and national security. The DAG also observed that white collar crime increasingly implicates national security. Accordingly, the DAG announced a restructuring at DOJ to invest significant new resources into the investigation and prosecution of sanctions and export controls violations.

In a succinct address packed with new policy initiatives, DAG Monaco also announced a new pilot program to incentivize corporations (specifically, their board members) to reset the company’s executive compensation policy. In its enforcement actions, when wrongdoing is uncovered, DOJ will reward those companies (in terms of decisions regarding deferred prosecution, fines) that have implemented robust corporate compliance programs, as well as companies that claw back compensation from executives who engaged in the criminal activity. The latter aspect of the policy is intended to shift the costs of corporate crime from the shareholders to the wrongdoers.

Further, going forward, the departments of Justice, Treasury, and Commerce will issue joint advisories regarding matters of concern involving corporate crime and national security.

The policy and resource shifts announced today are intended to increase our national and economic security. I’m cautiously optimistic about the implementation. — Ilene Jaroslaw