The Antitrust Division just announced a substantial payment to a whistleblower ($1 million) in a case brought in connection with the new whistleblower program announced by the Antitrust Division and the U.S. Postal Service last year. While it's too early to declare the success of a program based on a single case, the first payment is a milestone that may encourage other whistleblowers to come forward (or companies to seek leniency to get ahead of such situations). 

When the whistleblower program launched, one unknown factor was whether DOJ and the Postal Service would be able to get the word out, and how quickly. This payment suggests that their outreach worked, and should generate further publicity still. The corporate resolution here is also notable—a deferred prosecution agreement (which, until the last several years, was rare in the Antitrust Division)—as an early indication of how the Division might treat companies whose conduct is the subject of whistleblower complaints. 

The timing is also interesting. The announcement of the payment comes about six months after the program's public launch. That's relatively quick for an antitrust investigation. The announcement also references an “ongoing criminal investigation" (and describes a conspiracy between “Company A” and "Company B"), but the Antitrust Division did not wait for the resolution of the investigation to issue and publicize the whistleblower payment. The benefit to DOJ making and announcing the payment now is early positive publicity for the new program; I will be following where the investigation goes from here.

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The Antitrust Division today announced its first-ever whistleblower reward: a $1 million reward to a whistleblower who provided information that led to EBLOCK Corporation resolving criminal antitrust and fraud charges through a deferred prosecution agreement, under which it has agreed to pay a $3.28 million criminal fine.

www.justice.gov/...