Key Takeaways
- The September 2024 revisions to the Justice Manual's Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations fundamentally alter how prosecutors evaluate corporate cooperation, placing unprecedented emphasis on individual accountability and the recovery of ill-gotten gains before any deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) can be considered.
- Under the new policy, corporations must now self-disclose all relevant facts concerning individuals involved in the misconduct, regardless of their position within the organization, and must provide all non-privileged documents within 90 days of the initial notification to qualify for a DPA — a timeline far more aggressive than prior guidance.
- The revised Section 9-28.000 series now requires prosecutors to assess a corporation's "historical compliance culture" over a five-year lookback period, meaning a single prior violation can permanently disqualify a company from receiving a DPA, even if that violation was resolved through a non-prosecution agreement.
- Monetary penalties under the new framework are no longer negotiable based on cooperation alone; the policy mandates that any DPA must include a penalty calculation that starts at the base fine under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, with no reduction for cooperation beyond a 25% cap, and requires full disgorgement of all profits traceable to the misconduct.