The Department of Justice has just announced a new Antitrust Whistleblower Program for antitrust violations specifically. The program fills a significant gap in by providing a means for individuals to report price-fixing, bid-rigging, and other illegal, antitrust violations.

The Department of Justice said individuals who report antitrust crimes and related offenses that harm consumers, taxpayers, and free market competition across industries from healthcare to agriculture – under existing law and at no additional cost to the taxpayer – will receive an award for their efforts.

The DOJ partnered with the US Postal Service (USPS) to offer this whistleblower program, so it extends to antitrust violations affecting the Postal Service. This means the program includes industries where the USPS procures goods and services either directly or indirectly. “The USPS-OIG (Office of the Inspector General) will fully participate in this collaborate effort to ensure USPS and the US taxpayers are not being defrauded of honest services.”

The rewards aspect is meant to incentivize individuals and companies to provide information about collusive behavior without fear of reprisal, the DOJ said.

“Antitrust crimes and related offenses that harm free market competition often occur in secret, making detection a formidable challenge. The new Whistleblower Rewards Program will create a new pipeline of leads from individuals with first-hand knowledge of criminal antitrust and related offenses that will help us break down those walls of secrecy and hold violators accountable,” said Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the Antitrust Division.

Awards

The DOJ’s Antitrust Division will work with law enforcement partners the United States Postal Inspection Service and the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General to pay rewards to whistleblowers.

Whistleblowers who voluntarily report original information about antitrust and related offenses that result in criminal fines or other recoveries of at least $1m may be eligible to receive a whistleblower reward.

If the Antitrust Division determines that a whistleblower reward is appropriate, the presumption will be that the total reward will be at least 15% of the recovered criminal fine. The maximum total reward will be 30% of the recovered criminal fine.

In the event multiple whistleblowers are eligible for a single award, the total reward shared by all whistleblowers will not exceed 30% of the recovered criminal fine.

Payment of whistleblower rewards is in the discretion of the Antitrust Division, but if a whistleblower is eligible for an award the presumptive award amount will be between 15 and 30% of the amount of the criminal fine or recovery. Whistleblower rewards are subject to the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Antitrust Division and its law enforcement partners.

The amount of the whistleblower award will be made in consultation with USPS and USPS-OIG but is in the sole discretion of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division.

Tipsters can submit a whistleblower report on their own or through an attorney.