Nic Bourtin, Managing Partner of S&C’s Criminal Defense & Investigations Group, and Aisling O’Shea, Co-Head of the FCPA & Anti-Corruption Group, discussed the Department of Justice’s revised cooperation policies for corporate criminal investigations with Agenda.
The new policy expands the eligibility for companies with “aggravating factors” to receive cooperation credit if the company provides “extraordinary” cooperation with prosecutors and undertakes “extraordinary” remediation.
Nic and Aisling noted the vagueness of key terms of the new provisions. Aisling said that although the DOJ provided examples of “extraordinary” cooperation, it has not defined the term. “We’re all going to have to look to the cases that come to try to flesh out what those concepts mean, because they are still undefined.” Nic commented, “I think it remains to be seen whether these new policies are going to have a material impact.”
Read “DOJ: ‘Dire Consequences’ for Failure to Cooperate”