The Department of Justice's Antitrust Division introduces a whistleblower program in collaboration with the United States Postal Service.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced a groundbreaking partnership with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) to launch a Whistleblower Rewards Program [1][4]. This program, the first of its kind, offers monetary rewards for reporting antitrust and related criminal offenses [1][4].
### Key Details of the Program
The program's objective is to generate leads on hard-to-detect antitrust conduct, such as price fixing, bid rigging, and market allocation [2][4]. Eligible whistleblowers who provide specific, credible, and timely information leading to criminal enforcement actions resulting in fines or recoveries of at least $1 million may receive between 15% to 30% of the monetary fines recovered [1][2][3][4].
Rewards will be funded by the USPS, which receives a portion of the fines collected by the DoJ to support the program [1][2][3][4]. The program is administered jointly with the USPS and its Office of Inspector General, emphasizing the focus on crimes affecting the Postal Service’s revenues or property, and more broadly antitrust violations affecting public procurement [1][4].
### Types of Antitrust and Related Criminal Offenses Eligible
The program targets price fixing, bid rigging, market allocation, and other antitrust conduct and associated criminal violations that result in criminal convictions and substantial fines (at least $1 million) [1][4].
The new program expands upon and supplements existing DoJ efforts such as the Corporate Leniency Policy and the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act (CAARA), which protect whistleblowers from retaliation but did not include monetary rewards for antitrust offenses previously [1][3][4].
### Additional Context
The program aims to break down “walls of secrecy” that make it challenging to detect cartels and collusion. It is part of the DoJ’s broader strategy to prioritize enforcement against antitrust crimes and enhance compliance in sectors susceptible to collusion and procurement fraud [1][4]. Unlike the DoJ’s leniency program, whistleblowers in this rewards program do not receive immunity from prosecution but can receive financial incentives for their information [3].
This new Whistleblower Rewards Program is an extension of the DoJ's Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program, which was launched in August 2024 and expanded in May 2025 to include misconduct in financial institutions, foreign and domestic corruption, health care fraud, tariff evasion, and cartel activity [1][4].
The program follows several other federal whistleblower programs across various federal agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Whistleblower Program, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Whistleblower Program, and the Department of Labor Whistleblower Protection Program [1][4]. The SEC Whistleblower Program, established under the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, has awarded over $1.9 billion to whistleblowers since its inception, with a record-breaking $279 million in a single case in 2023 [1][4].
The False Claims Act (FCA) has recovered more than $70 billion for the Treasury, with whistleblowers receiving billions in awards [1][4]. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Program, also created under Dodd-Frank, awarded a single whistleblower $200 million in 2021 [1][4].
In summary, this new Whistleblower Rewards Program incentivizes individuals to report criminal antitrust offenses, particularly those impacting the USPS and public procurement, with substantial monetary rewards as a key enforcement tool to uncover and prosecute cartel behavior [1][2][4].
In this new Whistleblower Rewards Program, individuals can earn monetary rewards for reporting antitrust and related criminal offenses, such as price fixing and bid rigging, in a business context [1][4]. The program, which focuses on crimes that affect the Postal Service’s revenues or property, is part of a broader strategy to enhance compliance and prioritize enforcement against antitrust crimes [1][4].
The program is an extension of the DoJ's Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program and is also similar to several other federal whistleblower programs, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Whistleblower Program and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Whistleblower Program [1][4]. These programs offer substantial monetary rewards for individuals who report fraudulent activities in finance-related matters.
