A fledgling whistleblower program rewards individuals — whether U.S. citizens or not — who alert the United States about efforts to evade sanctions. It’s particularly relevant today, and it’s not as out of reach as it sounds.
Stick with us — we’ll explain.
What’s happening with sanctions?
When the United States wants to discourage certain behaviors (such as Russia’s war on Ukraine), one of the levers it can pull is sanctions. That can involve political or economic restrictions: freezing foreign-held property that’s under U.S. jurisdiction, halting transactions between U.S. entities and certain countries, barring entry into the United States, regulating imports and exports, pulling back on foreign assistance or diplomatic relations, etc.
Using our example of Russia, the United States has sanctioned two of Russia’s largest oil companies, saying they are helping fund Russia’s war. (Read more in the U.S. Treasury’s Oct. 22 sanctions expansion announcement.) This economic pressure is intended to urge Russia to end the war.
But sanctions don’t mean the targeted countries or entities will quietly comply. They may sneak by via U.S. companies with weak compliance programs. Sometimes they work through people from non-sanctioned countries. Or they come up with creative ways to circumvent restrictions, such as by changing the names of ships or moving cargo to another ship in the middle of the ocean. These actions can be incredibly difficult to trace.
How does this involve me?
These matters may sound far removed, but violations can land closer to home than you’d think.
While someone internationally could alert the United States to violations (planned, ongoing, or past) overseas, a U.S. company could choose to do business with a sanctioned entity; it could let a sanctioned entity use its tools or systems; or it could be lax in terms of complying with U.S. sanctions (either willingly or unwillingly).
For example, last year TD Bank agreed to pay more than $3 billion in penalties after knowingly maintaining slack internal policies, which made the bank an easy solution for criminal networks. Many employees knew the bank was violating the law, and some even accepted bribes or helped launder narcotics proceeds.
That brings us to the Anti-Money Laundering Whistleblower Program, enacted in 2021 and expanded to cover sanctions violations in 2022. Whistleblowers who provide original, voluntary information to the government, resulting in enforcement actions of at least $1 million, could be rewarded up to 30 percent of recoveries.
Notably, whistleblowers do not have to be company insiders or U.S. citizens. Also, if they work with an attorney, they can provide information anonymously.
If you have information about sanctions or other violations, contact Keller Grover for a confidential, free consultation. We advise clients about the best path forward from the very beginning, helping minimize the impact of reporting, pursue potential rewards, protect their rights and achieve the best possible outcomes. With more than 30 years of combined experience litigating fraud, antitrust and whistleblower cases, we have helped recover billions for our clients.