DOJ’s Antitrust Division Ignores Compliance Programs

In a presentation at NYU on July 8 the head of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division will give a presentation at NYU on incentives for compliance programs. Blogger Joe Murphy wonders if this will finally be the time the role of compliance programs are recognized and endorsed. Although this has been policy in the rest of the DOJ for years, he notes that the Antitrust Division has been a stark holdout in its refusal to recognize programs no matter how diligent. All that matters, he says, is its leniency policy for voluntary disclosures, and companies admitted into leniency are not even required to have or upgrade compliance programs. He argues that the Antitrust Division’s policy means it loses its leverage, but says that an unnamed senior official has recently admitted the consequences of this negative policy. It’s Murphy’s hope that the Division continues to talk with the compliance and ethics professionals, so it can pursue a path that works.