NEW YORK — The U.S. Department of Justice’s approach to crediting firms and individuals for voluntarily disclosing misconduct is proving effective, despite not being widely used, a senior federal prosecutor in New York told a gathering of compliance officers on Thursday.
Alixandra Smith, deputy chief of the criminal division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, highlighted during a Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics conference that various DOJ components had voluntary self-disclosure policies even before the agency introduced its broader corporate criminal enforcement policy last year.
“The fact that the policies have been around and now they’ve been expanded shows that they do tend to work,” Smith said. “The more transparent we can be about what our process is and what the benefits are and how it’s going to work makes it more effective.”
Smith acknowledged that there aren’t “tons” of voluntary self-disclosures coming in, but consistency in how the DOJ handles these disclosures can build trust and encourage more companies to self-report.
