A Practical Look at Why A Criminal Antitrust Whistleblower Statute is Needed

By: Robert Connolly (Cartel Capers)

Antitrust practitioner and blog author Robert Connolly has been calling and supporting calls for whistleblower legislation to be passed as a tool against cartels. This kind of legislation has had tremendous success at the SEC and similar agencies, while criminal cartels should also fear the treat of facing a whistleblower. Often times, financial crimes can only be discovered thanks to “insider” info. The conversation about how to handle these whistleblowers often overlook the difficulties faced by these potential sources of information, which reduces their potential. The Antitrust Division implemented their own Leniency Policy decades ago, and yet statistics show it has been used only sparingly.

There are three Individual Leniency letters, consisting of 12 pages, that have been issued in this 14-year timeframe. The letters are available at the following location: https://www.justice.gov/ atr/redacted-leniency-letters

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