U.S. Attorney Michael F. Easley, Jr. announced the implementation of the EDNC Whistleblower Pilot Program by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The program aims to enhance the identification and prosecution of white-collar crime.
“In this office, we are focused on enhancing the identification and prosecution of white-collar crime,” said U.S. Attorney Michael F. Easley, Jr. “The EDNC Whistleblower Pilot Program achieves that by incentivizing individuals to proactively come forward with information about crimes taking place within corporations. The benefit to the participant, if qualified, is avoiding prosecution. We encourage all who may have information on fraud, corruption, or corporate crime, to fill out the short form on our website.”
The program encourages early voluntary self-disclosure of criminal conduct and promotes effective enforcement of criminal laws by allowing individuals to disclose information regarding certain covered subjects identified in its policy. These subjects include criminal activities undertaken by or through various entities such as corporations and financial institutions involving fraud or corporate control failures; intellectual property theft; or offenses affecting market integrity.
Additionally, it covers disclosed criminal conduct involving state or local bribery or fraud related to federal, state, or local funds but excludes offenses involving violence. If all policy conditions are met, a deferred or non-prosecution agreement will be offered to whistleblowers.
By clarifying requirements and benefits for self-disclosure, this initiative seeks to motivate individuals and their counsel to provide timely and actionable information which will help expose misconduct and protect communities more effectively.
Further details about the policy and an intake form for applicants can be found on their website.