Over the past year, building off the 2015 Yates Memorandum, which had emphasized that holding individuals accountable for corporate misconduct has an important deterrent effect and incentivizes appropriate change in the way businesses behave, the Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has significantly increased individual prosecutions. The Fraud Section charged more individuals in 2018 than in previous years. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) unit in particular emphasized its “clear commitment to holding individuals accountable for transnational corruption.” (DAAG, Matthew S. Miner, Remarks at 5th Annual GIR New York Live Event, Sept. 27, 2018).
Thirty-one individuals were charged in 2018 as a result, 18 of whom pleaded guilty. (See U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Fraud Section Year in Review, 2018 at 5). While the Yates Memorandum does not specifically apply to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the SEC noted in the Division of Enforcement’s 2018 Annual Report that “[i]ndividual accountability is critical to an effective enforcement program and is one of the core principles of the Division of Enforcement.”
