Following numerous speeches over the past several months by senior Department of Justice officials on their focus on the prosecution of individuals in investigations involving corporate misconduct and the importance of corporations disclosing evidence against individuals to receive cooperation credit in criminal investigations, on September 9, 2015, the U.S. Justice Department issued new guidelines aimed at prioritizing the Department’s focus on individual responsibility in both civil and criminal corporate wrongdoing cases.  The guidelines appear to reflect a push by the Department to strengthen efforts at obtaining penalties – including criminal penalties – against responsible individuals in addition to those that may be sought against the firms and companies involved in misconduct.  The guidelines supplement those set out in the 2007 memorandum from Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty on “Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations.”  These new guidelines are a response to criticism that the Department has not been aggressive enough in prosecuting individuals post-financial crisis and are a must know for companies and individuals engaged in ongoing Department investigations others who could be the subject of investigation in the future, including companies and individuals in heavily-regulated industries.
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