Overview
- DOJ issued a department-wide Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self‑Disclosure Policy on March 10, 2026, creating one framework for corporate criminal cases across the department except antitrust.
- NSD now says companies should send voluntary self‑disclosures about potential criminal export controls, sanctions, or related national security violations to NSD, and a good‑faith report to one DOJ unit will still count if the case shifts to another unit.
- Under the policy, prosecutors can decline charges only when a company reports to DOJ, fully cooperates, fixes the problem in a timely way, and has no serious aggravating factors, with any ill‑gotten gains repaid to victims or forfeited.
- The policy offers a defined “near‑miss” track with a Non‑Prosecution Agreement that carries a term under three years, no independent monitor, and a 50%–75% fine cut off the low end of the Guidelines, while disclosures only to civil regulators do not satisfy DOJ’s reporting requirement.
- DOJ has already used the policy to issue at least one public declination, and counsel note features like a 120‑day window after an internal whistleblower report and tougher choices for smaller firms that may struggle to separate culpable individuals from the company.