Lisa Phelan spoke to Global Competition Review about the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division and US Postal Service Office of the Inspector General agreeing to pay whistleblowers who provide new information about potential Sherman Act violations up to 30% of eventual criminal fines that top $1 million. Lisa noted that part of the DOJ’s previous hesitation to pay informants was based on concerns about undermining their credibility in court.
She stated, “It could be a positive thing to try to encourage people to report suspicious conduct, so long as it doesn’t inspire folks to make baseless claims that waste Division investigation resources, and unfairly burden accused companies.”