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# DoJ Renews ‘Individual Accountability’ Interest in Prosecutions
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/doj-renews-individual-accountability-interest-in-prosecutions/
- Published: 2022-09-19T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T17:59:41.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: FDA Policy/General, #legacy-id-D5152770

The Department of Justice (DoJ) says its top priority for corporate criminal enforcement is “individual accountability” by targeting the “individuals who commit and profit from corporate crime,” DoJ deputy attorney general [**Lisa O. Monaco** said](https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/deputy-attorney-general-lisa-o-monaco-delivers-remarks-corporate-criminal-enforcement?ref=fdaweb.com) during a 9/15 program on corporate criminal enforcement in New York. To illustrate the Department’s focus, Monaco cited trial successes in convicting Theranos’ [**Elizabeth Holmes**](https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/theranos-founder-elizabeth-holmes-found-guilty-investor-fraud?ref=fdaweb.com) and former pharmaceutical distributor [**Laurence Doud**](https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/laurence-doud-former-ceo-pharmaceutical-distributor-convicted-conspiring-distribute?ref=fdaweb.com).

“Despite those steps forward, we cannot ignore the data showing overall decline in corporate criminal prosecutions over the last decade,” Monaco said. “We need to do more and move faster. So, starting today, we will take steps to empower our prosecutors, to clear impediments in their way, and to expedite our investigations of individuals.”

To increase the speed of prosecution, DoJ will now require cooperating companies to come forward with important evidence more quickly. “Sometimes we see companies and counsel elect — for strategic reasons — to delay the disclosure of critical documents or information while they consider how to mitigate the damage or investigate on their own,” she said. Delayed disclosure undermines efforts to hold individuals accountable… Going forward, undue or intentional delay in producing information or documents — particularly those that show individual culpability — will result in the reduction or denial of cooperation credit. Gamesmanship with disclosures and productions will not be tolerated.”

Monaco also said the department is banking on voluntary self-disclosures to help deter misdeeds by companies. “The department is committed to providing incentives to companies that voluntarily self-disclose misconduct to the government,” she said. “In many cases, voluntary self-disclosure is a sign that the company has developed a compliance program and has fostered a culture to detect misconduct and bring it forward.”

She said as long as there are no “aggravating factors,” the department will not pursue a guilty plea “when a company has voluntarily self-disclosed, cooperated, and remediated misconduct. In addition, the department will not require an independent compliance monitor for such a corporation if, at the time of resolution, it also has implemented and tested an effective compliance program. Simply put, the math is easy: voluntary self-disclosure can save a company hundreds of millions of dollars in fines, penalties, and costs. It can avoid reputational harms that arise from pleading guilty.”

Another priority, Monaco said, is having prosecutors evaluate the strength of a company’s compliance program by factoring in whether its compensation systems reward compliance and impose financial sanctions on employees, executives, or directors whose direct or supervisory actions or omissions contributed to criminal conduct. “They will evaluate what companies say and what they do, including whether, after learning of misconduct, a company actually claws back compensation or otherwise imposes financial penalties,” she said. “Compensation systems that clearly and effectively impose financial penalties for misconduct can deter risky behavior and foster a culture of compliance.”

Additionally, Monaco said further guidance on rewarding firms that employ claw back or similar arrangements will be published by the end of the year. “This will include how to help shift the burden of corporate financial penalties away from shareholders — who frequently play no role in misconduct — onto those more directly responsible,” she said.