In a speech to the New York City Bar White Collar Crime Institute on May 9, 2018, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced a new Department of Justice (“DOJ”) policy intended to ensure coordination among DOJ departments and other enforcement agencies when pursuing penalties against corporations for violations arising out of the same conduct. The policy, incorporated into the U.S. Attorneys’ Manual at § 1-12.100, seeks to avoid imposition of duplicative penalties by “instructing Department components to appropriately coordinate with one another and with other enforcement agencies in imposing multiple penalties on a company in relation to investigations of the same misconduct.”
The new policy is an attempt to minimize instances of what Rosenstein called “piling on,” which he described as the “disproportionate enforcement of laws by multiple authorities.” In doing so, Rosenstein expressed a desire for “transparency and consistency in corporate enforcement,” such that companies feel encouraged to self-report suspected wrongdoing.