Whistleblowers with knowledge of postal-related antitrust crimes have a new incentive for coming forward. The Department of Justice's Antitrust Division announced a partnership with the United States Postal Service (USPS) to create a whistleblower rewards program on July 8, 2025. This marks the very first time the Antitrust Division will reward whistleblowers — with potentially up to 30% of the recovered criminal fine — for their assistance in reporting postal-related antitrust crimes.
Antitrust schemes give larger companies an unfair advantage by consolidating control over markets, squeezing out smaller competitors, and leaving the public with higher prices and fewer choices. Detecting these schemes can be difficult. Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the Antitrust Division described it as a "formidable challenge" but expressed hopes that the new program will encourage people with firsthand knowledge of antitrust crimes and related offenses to help the U.S. government root out any violators.
A memorandum regarding the whistleblower program specifies that it's focused on criminal violations "affecting the Postal Service, its revenues, or property." Anyone seeking a monetary reward for alerting the government to potential violations will have to meet that and other requirements. The memorandum states that awards will be provided to whistleblowers "who voluntarily provide the Antitrust Division with original information about Eligible Criminal Violations, which leads to a resolution including a criminal fine of at least $1 million."
Before making a disclosure to the government, whistleblowers should contact an attorney for help in determining whether they meet each of the required elements under this new program. The requirements are:
- Voluntary Disclosure: A disclosure is voluntary if it is made before receiving a formal demand compelling the same information (e.g. a grand jury subpoena) and made by a person who does not have a preexisting obligation to make the disclosure.
- Original Information: Information is generally considered original if it is derived from independent knowledge and is not already known by the applicable government agencies.
- Eligible Criminal Violations: The Antitrust
Division generally has the discretion to determine what qualifies
as an "Eligible Criminal Violation." In the past, the
division has targeted conduct such as price fixing (where
competitors agree to raise, fix, or otherwise maintain the price at
which their goods or services are sold) and bid rigging (where
competitors agree in advance who will submit the winning bid on a
contract being let through the competitive bidding process). It is
too soon to tell which criminal offenses would trigger an
investigation under the new whistleblower program, but there are
several that have already been identified as "presumptively
Eligible Criminal Violations":
- Violations of sections 1, 2, and 3 of the Sherman Act, which prohibits agreements that unreasonably restrain trade, monopolization, and similar activities;
- Federal criminal violations committed to effectuate, facilitate, or conceal violations of the Sherman Act;
- Federal criminal violations targeting or affecting federal, state, or local public procurement; and
- Federal criminal violations targeting or affecting the conduct of federal competition investigations or proceedings.
- Minimum $1 Million Fine: A whistleblower's disclosure must lead to a resolution involving a criminal fine of at least $1 million to be eligible for an award.
- Violations Affecting the Postal Service, Its Revenues, or Property: A whistleblower must have sufficient facts and evidence for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to determine that the Postal Service has suffered an identifiable harm.
The Antitrust Division and the USPS Office of Inspector General's partnership and commitment to investigating antitrust fraud schemes is not unprecedented. The two agencies partnered along with several other government agencies in 2019 to obtain a $7 million settlement from Heritage Pharmaceuticals for "conspiring with its competitors to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate customers."
The new whistleblower program will offer up to 30% of the money recovered in cases to whistleblowers themselves. It is not only an incentive but also an acknowledgement of the integral role whistleblowers can play in identifying complicated fraud schemes and helping the government promptly resolve issues. Without whistleblowers, many illicit behaviors can go undetected.
"This program raises the stakes," Assistant Attorney General Slater said in a press release. "If you're fixing prices or rigging bids, don't assume your scheme is safe — we will find and prosecute you, and someone you know may get a reward for helping us do it."
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