The Department of Justice announced recently its first-ever department-wide corporate enforcement policy for criminal matters. A DOJ official said this policy applies principles promoted by the department’s Criminal Division – which in May 2025 revised its own corporate enforcement policy to make it easier for companies to avoid criminal prosecution while also emphasizing that enforcement priorities would include trade and customs fraud – “and applies them uniformly across the Department” (with the exception of antitrust matters).
Under this policy the DOJ will decline to prosecute a company for criminal conduct when (1) the company voluntarily self-discloses the misconduct to an appropriate DOJ criminal component, fully cooperates with the DOJ’s investigation, and timely and appropriately remediates the misconduct and (2) there are no aggravating circumstances related to the nature and seriousness of the offense, egregiousness or pervasiveness of the misconduct within the company, severity of harm caused by the misconduct, or corporate recidivism. Even if there are aggravating circumstances, prosecutors will retain the discretion to nonetheless recommend an enforcement declination based on weighing the severity of those circumstances against the company's voluntary self-disclosure, cooperation, and remediation.
If a company fully cooperates and timely and appropriately remediates but its self-reporting of the misconduct does not qualify as a voluntary self-disclosure and/or it has aggravating factors that warrant a criminal resolution, the DOJ will (1) provide a non-prosecution agreement (absent particularly egregious or multiple aggravating circumstances), (2) allow a term length of fewer than three years, (3) not require an independent compliance monitor, and (4) provide a reduction of 50-75 percent off the low end of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines fine range.
Finally, if a company does not meet any of the criteria described above, DOJ prosecutors will maintain the discretion to determine the appropriate resolution, including form, term length, compliance obligations, and monetary penalty.
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