APPENDIX 8. Title 9, chapter 9-28.000 principles of federal prosecution of business organizations (U.S. Department of Justice)
Author | Robert W. Tarun |
Pages | 581-602 |
APPENDIX 8
Title 9, Chapter 9-28.000
Principles of Federal
Prosecution of Business
Organizations (U.S.
Department of Justice)1
9-28.100 Duties of Federal Prosecutors and Duties of Corporate Leaders
9-28.200 General Considerations of Corporate Liability
9-28.300 Factors to Be Considered
9-28.400 Special Policy Concerns
9-28.500 Pervasiveness of Wrongdoing Within the Corporation
9-28.600 The Corporation’s Past History
9-28.700 The Value of Cooperation
9-28.710 Attorney-Client and Work Product Protections
9-28.720 Cooperation: Disclosing the Relevant Facts
9-28.730 Obstructing the Investigation
9-28.740 Offering Cooperation: No Entitlement to Immunity
9-28.750 Qualifying for Immunity, Amnesty, or Reduced Sanctions Through
Voluntary Disclosures
1. While these guidelines refer to corporations, they apply to the consideration of the prosecution of all
types of business organizations, including partnerships, sole proprietorships, government entities, and unincor-
porated associations.
581
582 APPENDICES
9-28.760 Oversight Concerning Demands for Waivers of Attorney-Client
Privilege or Work Product By Corporations Contrary to This Policy
9-28.800 Corporate Compliance Programs
9-28.900 Restitution and Remediation
9-28.1000 Collateral Consequences
9-28.1100 Other Civil or Regulatory Alternatives
9-28.1200 Selecting Charges
9-28.1300 Plea Agreements with Corporations
9-28.001 DUTIES OF FEDERAL PROSECUTORS AND
DUTIES OF CORPORATE LEADERS
The prosecution of corporate crime is a high priority for the Department of
Justice. By investigating allegations of wrongdoing and by bringing charges where
appropriate for criminal misconduct, the Department promotes critical pub-
lic interests. These interests include, to take just a few examples: (1) protecting
the integrity of our free economic and capital markets; (2) protecting consumers,
investors, and business entities that compete only through lawful means; and (3)
protecting the American people from misconduct that would violate criminal laws
safeguarding the environment.
In this regard, federal prosecutors and corporate leaders typically share com-
mon goals. For example, directors and officers owe a fiduciary duty to a corpora-
tion’s shareholders, the corporation’s true owners, and they owe duties of honest
dealing to the investing public in connection with the corporation’s regulatory
filings and public statements. The faithful execution of these duties by corporate
leadership serves the same values in promoting public trust and confidence that
our criminal cases are designed to serve.
A prosecutor’s duty to enforce the law requires the investigation and prosecu-
tion of criminal wrongdoing if it is discovered. In carrying out this mission with the
diligence and resolve necessary to vindicate the important public interests discussed
above, prosecutors should be mindful of the common cause we share with respon-
sible corporate leaders. Prosecutors should also be mindful that confidence in the
Department is affected both by the results we achieve and by the real and perceived
ways in which we achieve them. Thus, the manner in which we do our job as prosecu-
tors—including the professionalism we demonstrate, our willingness to secure the
facts in a manner that encourages corporate compliance and self-regulation, and also
our appreciation that corporate prosecutions can potentially harm blameless inves-
tors, employees, and others—affects public perception of our mission. Federal prose-
cutors recognize that they must maintain public confidence in the way in which they
exercise their charging discretion. This endeavor requires the thoughtful analysis of
all facts and circumstances presented in a given case. As always, professionalism and
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