U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein announced recently that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has revised the heightened requirements for corporate cooperation credit set forth under the Obama administration by then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates. See Memorandum from Sally Q. Yates, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Individual Accountability for Corporate Wrongdoing (Sept. 9, 2015) (Yates Memo).

In his remarks on Nov. 29, 2018 at the American Conference Institute’s 35th International Conference on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Rosenstein reiterated the DOJ’s focus on prosecuting individuals involved in corporate misconduct. He stated, however, that the Yates Memo’s requirement that corporations provide “all relevant facts” about “all individuals involved in or responsible for” corporate wrongdoing to be eligible for “any cooperation credit” was misguided, unworkable, and deprived DOJ attorneys of much-needed flexibility and discretion. In this article, we analyze the significance of DOJ’s new guidance as it pertains to corporate investigations and defense.

The Yates Memo