Among other significant developments, 2015 saw the U.S. Department of Justice (the "DOJ" or the "Department") document a policy priority of holding individuals accountable for corporate wrongdoing. This policy was laid out in the "Yates Memorandum"announced by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Sally Quillian Yatesand related changes the DOJ made to the U.S. Attorney's Manual. The most significant aspect of the Yates Memorandum is the requirement that corporations turn over "all relevant facts relating to the individuals responsible for the misconduct" in order to be eligible for any cooperation credit. This requirement creates questions about how the DOJ will deal with aspects of attorney-client privilege law and foreign blocking statutes that intersect with the "all relevant facts" requirement.
The commitment to pursuing more cases against individuals appears to be strong, and the DOJ does appear to be passing on some corporate cases where it once might have insisted on a resolution. Going by the statistics, the Yates Memorandum's policy was reflected in the number of cases brought during the year, although the policy was not announced until September. Last year the DOJ resolved with or charged eight individuals in FCPA-related cases, as compared to only two individuals in 2014. Meanwhile, its tempo with respect to corporations decreased. It resolved such cases against only two corporations (or groups of corporations), down from seven in 2014. The penalty amounts were lower, with no corporate penalty cracking the "top ten" of...
