31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program: Day 6 - M&A Safe Harbor Policy

31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program: Day 6 – M&A Safe Harbor Policy

January 6, 2025

Welcome to a special podcast series on the Compliance Podcast Network, 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program. Over these 31 days of the series in January 2025, Tom Fox will post a key part of a best practices compliance program daily. By the end of January, you will have enough information to create, design, or enhance a compliance program. Each podcast will be short, at 6-8 minutes, and will include three key takeaways you can implement at little or no cost to help update your compliance program. I hope you will join us each day in January for this exploration of best practices in compliance.

This episode delves into the Department of Justice’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) Safe Harbor Policy, as Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco explained. This policy encourages companies to voluntarily self-disclose criminal conduct discovered during acquisition. If a company promptly discloses such misconduct, cooperates with the ensuing investigation, and engages in appropriate remediation, restitution, and disgorgement, it can receive a presumption of a criminal declination. Key deadlines include disclosing misconduct within six months of the closing date and fully remediating within one year. The DOJ aims to incentivize acquiring companies to perform robust pre- and post-acquisition due diligence and self-disclosure to mitigate risks and de-risk transactions effectively.